Twinning
by ByteOfBacon
Summary: Naofumi's been betrayed, and this slave trader seems not one bit more trustworthy. The girls he hold however are a different story... (Raphtalia's twin AU) (Naofumi/Raphtalia/OC)
1. Chapter 1

I choked on the mucus in my throat, acid from my stomach beginning to rise. My sister looked at me with pity and sympathy as she also coughed hard from disease. "Save us, Shield Hero." I prayed.

* * *

Naofumi didn't trust this man. The man's demeanor and the fact that they were too comfortable being a slave trader made Naofumi suspicious of him. Not that he wasn't already suspicious of everyone.

"Welcome to my slave trading empire! I have a dragon over here, some beasts over there. Take your pick!" He waved his hands excitedly. Cages sat around the room, stacked on top of each other. Naofumi strolled around, lifting cloths to see the beings inside. He heard a cough and a whimper from one of the cages.

Naofumi lifted the cloth, revealing two little girls. Both were curled up on the bottom of the cage. Their sickly skin and bony bodies triggered something inside the Shield Hero. Pity.

"I'll take these two. How much?" He glanced at the slave trader who was looking over his shoulder. The slave trader put on a professional look. "I'd say about 35 silvers. They're both nearly dead and quite scared of humans in general. The man who sold em' to me loved his torture. A sadist." The smaller of the two girls shifted and started to murmur something.

Naofumi tossed his coins at the trader. The trader opened the cage and pulled both of the girls out.

* * *

I whimpered as the trader forcefully pulled me out of the prison. My sister followed me out. As the trader went to take blood from our buyer, I whispered into Raphtalia's ear. "I'm going to use the purifying magic on your crest. Run as soon as it's gone." I started to recite the words quietly. I winced as the crest on my arm shined, trying to resist my magic.

"Ariete! Stop! Don't suffer for my sake!" Raphtalia tried to stop the words flowing from my mouth. Her crest began to turn white. "Go. Leave me here." I said. My eyes closed and my teeth clenched from the pain.

"Stop that!" The slave trader said, and the crest burned my arm, the pain arching into my whole body. I choked on my words and let out a scream. The white shining from Raphtalia's crest stopped. _I failed you Raphtalia. _I heard my name being screamed before the darkness set in.

* * *

Naofumi looked at the collapsed racoon girl, and then looked at the slave trader. "If she's dead you owe me 15 silvers." He walked up to the other girl. She was trembling. "Ariete you said her name was?" He asked. The girl weakly nodded. "What's your name?"

The girl stayed crouched by Ariete, whispering prayers. Naofumi kneeled down next to the girl and checked Ariete's pulse. "She's alive. Ariete will be fine." The other girl gasped and kept her forehead to her sister's hand. "My name is Raphtalia." She said quietly. The trader walked up behind them. "It's time to bond their crests to you." The trader picked up the dish holding the Shield Hero's blood and a brush. "Stand." He ordered. Raphtalia stood up, keeping her eyes on her unconscious sister. The trader brushed Naofumi's blood onto Raphtalia's crest. Raphtalia writhed in pain as her slave crest started to glow. The trader did the same to her unconscious sister.

Naofumi exited the slave trader's shop with Ariete in his arms and Raphtalia behind him. It was dawn and Naofumi decided that there was no where they could go with Ariete still unconscious. Raphtalia followed him to his previous sulking spot under the bridge. He laid the little girl on a sleeping mat. Naofumi examined her for wounds, as well as Raphtalia. _They both need medicine _he thought as Raphtalia coughed hard. "Are you hungry?" He asked. Raphtalia shook her head, but her own stomach grumbled at the thought of food. Naofumi sighed. "Once Ariete wakes, we can go eat. You can't travel on an empty stomach. We'll also need to get both of you weapons." He gestured for the girl to sit next to her sister, then he sat down.

* * *

It was just past noon when I stirred. My body felt unusually heavy, and I tried to sit up. A jolt of pain was sent into my entire lower half and I gasped. My eyes opened, expecting to find myself in a cage, but instead I saw the bottom of a bridge. I cranked my neck to the left and I saw my sister sleeping against an unknown figure. _What the hell _I thought. The man had one of his eyes closed and the other barely open. My ears heard flowing water to my right. The soreness from the rest of my body returned and I let out a groan. The man's eyes opened fully and Raphtalia started to rub the sleep from her eyes, woken from the motion. "Ariete!" Raphtalia shouted and then threw herself on top of me. Ouch. She hugged me tight, and started whispering to me. "Don't do that again! Don't even think of letting me go without you." She cried into my shoulder and I winced as she held me tighter. "Okay, Okay. Just can you stop suffocating me?" Raphtalia yelped and got off me, now kneeling beside me. Her eyes had tears in them. Despite my body's complaints, I sat up.

"Now Raphtalia, can you explain to me who this is?"


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Wow! Wasn't expecting that much attention! Thanks! Enjoy!**

I sat up from my resting spot. Raphtalia was still rubbing sleep from her eyes, and I was still in pain. Hiding it wasn't going to work, and the man didn't look like a sadist like... the last one. Playing the pain down is an option. Probably the best one. Okay, plan decided, put it into action.

I stretched, feeling my aching back loosen a little. A involuntary yawn escaped, and I clasped my hands over my mouth. The man regarded with a look of pure neutrality. I saw neither hate, nor friendliness, neither kindness or anger. The lack of emotion in his face put me off. Something wasn't right with this man. The shield he held, it was eerily similar to what I'd seen in my parents' books. But this man was nothing like the hero was in the stories. Therefore, he mustn't be the same character. Then he's a threat. "Raphtalia, stand behind me." I ordered. She tilted her head in confusion. "Eh?" I was a little irritated. "Raphtalia, I said to get behind me. Now." Raphtalia looked at my face, then put on a worried look. "Wait! Ariete, don't! This is-" I cut my sister off. Once again, she was acting immature. "Raphtalia! Get back here NOW!" She yelped, then followed my orders. "Ariete, don't do this. He's not like-" I shushed her by slapping one of my hands over her mouth.

Slowly, I started to chant, while the man stood there confused. I completed my chant. "Fire Zwiete!" I shouted. Fire sprouted from the tips of my fingers, collecting into a beam of flames. I aimed it at the man. Raphtalia shouted something, but the crackle of the fire deafened my ears. The spell finished, leaving me drained. My legs felt like the jelly they served at parties. The ones me and Raphtalia always sought, but never received. I looked towards where my inferno went, and to my surprise I saw the man still standing, his cloak barely singed while the underside of the bridge was scorched within a centimeter of collapsing. He pulled back his arm which held the shield, revealing his face.

As I looked at his eyes, I could only describe the feeling in my body one way. _Terror._

* * *

Naofumi looked at the girl who had attacked him. His inner rage and fury threatened to crack his normally calm visage. "Ariete, I order you to _Never _use magic unless under my command." Her crest glowed, the rule being embedded into her mind. He gestured for the two girls to follow him as he walked towards the main path. Both girls were left stuck in their places in surprise. Naofumi glanced back, and seeing the two demi-humans still standing there, yelled. "Follow me! You both need food." They jolted and started to jog towards him.

Naofumi entered the pub. Raphtalia tried to bring his attention to the sign outside, but Ariete stopped her. "Don't. Just go along with the flow." They entered, following Naofumi. The girls looked towards a booth where a child was eating. They both drooled at the sight of the kid's meal. "One of the cheapest lunch sets and two of whatever that kid over there is having." The two girls looked at Naofumi, surprised for the third time that day. The three shuffled into a booth as the people around the pub murmured. Naofumi paid no attention to them. He studied the girl who had tried to turn him into roasted human. Her eyes had large bags under them, but they were noticeably smaller than when they were at the slave shop. Her clothing consisted of a ragged white cloth and nothing else. He averted his eyes, realizing he was trying to stare down the shirt of a little girl.

The food came, and both of the girls visibly sparkled as their meals were put in front of them. They both looked at their new master before digging into the delicious food. Ariete shoveled most of the rice into her mouth in one scoop, lodging a ball of it in her throat. Naofumi passed her the luxury of water, which she gulped down half of. The other half was handed to her sister. Naofumi smiled at the two while eating his own meal. _Still tasteless. _He wondered if his taste buds would ever come back to him.

* * *

I had inhaled all of the food, as well as scraps from my Master's food. I was confused why he'd let us eat. I didn't care though, as the food was delicious. Our standards had probably lowered from being fed only crackers every other day and minimal water. Raphtalia seemed to thoroughly enjoy her meal as well, which added to my smile. We were currently walking behind our Master. While I was still in bliss from the food, I noticed the crowds around us looking in disgust at our Master. Whatever he'd done, it left an impression.

A bell jingled as we walked through the doorway of a shop. It was quaint, the whole building being about the size of two cheap inn rooms. A large dark skinned man was behind the counter. "I need a weapon this one can use, the cheapest one you have." He gestured to Raphtalia. He then pointed to me. "Do you have any magic enhancing objects?" He asked the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper nodded and brang out a bracelet with a red gemstone placed in it's center. "This one here is worn around the wrist. If she's got either dark magic or fire magic affinities, she should probably wear this. That being said, having children in your party is a... interesting decision." I scowled at the shopkeeper. I can fight for myself if I wanted to. Too bad the previous owners had slave collars. "I also need whatever are the cheapest clothes you can offer these two. Make them decent at the very least.

Raphtalia went into the changing room first. She exited quickly, now wearing a black coat with a brown and red dress underneath. Small boots were on her feet. Our Master handed me my clothes and I went into the changing room. The outfit was simple, a leather shirt with embroidered flowers, a sleeved cloak and a skirt. My boots were identical to my sister's.

I stepped out of the small booth. Our Master looked us up and down, then gave an approving nod. He tossed a bag of silvers towards the shopkeeper and then handed me the ruby-colored bracelet. He gave Raphtalia a sheathed knife. "Draw your knife, Raphtalia." He ordered. His arm snaked into his coat, and came out holding a orange balloon. "Stab it."

Raphtalia shook her head. Good. She shouldn't be fighting, that was my job. "I order you to pierce the creature, Raphtalia." Her crest glowed. I glared at the man. "Don't you hurt her!" I began reciting another chant, but this time the crest glowed brightly. A strangled cry erupted from my mouth, and the chant failed. "You don't have to, Raphtalia." I croaked. She stepped back, but her crest burned brighter. She choked on the pain. Raphtalia let out a battle cry, then leapt forward. Her knife passed through the balloon like it was warm butter.

"Good." Our Master said. He then turned to me, and pulled another balloon from his cloak. "Ariete, use magic to kill it." He ordered. I started chanting, and the shop keeper must've recognized the words. "Wait! Don't use fire magic in-" He was cut off by fire sprouting from my fingers and then shooting at the balloon. It passed through the creature as if it was air, then hit the wooden wall. It ignited.

"Waaah!" The shopkeeper cried. He retrieved a bucket of water from his backroom and tossed it at the quickly growing flames. It was extinguished, but the wood now had a charred spot on it. I giggled as the shopkeeper glared at our Master. His gaze softened when he glanced at me. He made a hmph sound, and gestured for us to leave.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I've decided to use mostly First Person POV from Ariete, as that's what I'm used to. I'll still have moments with Third-Person Limited POV over Naofumi's shoulder, but only rarely. That's it for now, so enjoy!**

I stroked the ruby colored bracelet on my wrist. We were strolling through the city, towards the main gate. I assumed our Master wanted us to start leveling up and getting exp. Probably he wanted us to do the fighting and take all the hits for him while he sat back and reaped the rewards. Raphtalia seemed to hold my same uneasiness about this man. He always held a stone-cold look and hasn't made a single facial expression since we exited the slave trader's shop. That is, aside from when I blasted him with flames.

We ventured into a forest, the trees giving us shade. My ears twitched as a rustle came from the bushes. I nudged Raphtalia, and she drew her knife. A balloon leapt into the air in front of us. Our Master used his Shield to deflect the orange creature, and Raphtalia slashed at it. The thing broke into cloth-like pieces. Raphtalia gained some EXP and so did our Master.

The process repeated, Raphtalia stabbing and slashing at creatures. I only used my magic once during the afternoon. My flames dissolved a group of 4 balloons which lunged at us. I swore one of them bit into our Master, but he had no wounds on his body. The afternoon turned to dusk, and we settled by a river. Our Master gave us a shared sleeping mat and caught fish by hand.

The roasted fish wasn't as good as the tavern's food but it still filled my stomach. I took a glance at our Master, who was crushing some leaves. He added them to water, and it turned into something syrup-like. "Drink this," he ordered. His hand put it in front of my face, and I sniffed. No smell. I took a tentative sip as he handed an identical cup to my sister. So bitter! I thought. My body immediately started to gag and I spat it out. "Don't waste it!" our Master said. I realized it was medicine. I forced my body to stop gagging and swallowed the medicine. Raphtalia had a little more trouble drinking it, but eventually, she gulped it down.

We fell asleep next to each other on the mat. The next day, we continued deeper into the forest. The balloons started to become less frequent. A cracking branch alerted me to something on my left. Raphtalia and I stepped back while our Master looked for the source of the sound. A rabbit leapt out of the brush, and our Master deflected its teeth with his shield. The rabbit bounced off, then started to rush at him again. "Ariete, Raphtalia, Now!" I began to chant, while Raphtalia stood there. I nudged her while reciting words, but her eyes were wide. "B-But it'll bleed if I-" Our Master deflected another bite, and my concentration was waning. "Raphtalia, I order you to slash at it!" Her crest burned, and she let out a stifled cry. My concentration broke and the embers that were gathering at my fingers ceased. Our Master blocked another bite from the rabbit. "If you can't fight, then I don't need you." His harsh words were about to be repelled by my own, but then Raphtalia acted. She shot forward, her knife impaling the rabbit. It squealed then slid off of my sister's knife. She breathed heavily. I stared in shock. This was the same twin who always acted two years younger than she actually was. Hmph, she's moving up.

We continued slaying monsters in the forest for a few days, resting during the night. Our master always stood guard while we slept, and I don't think he rested once during our trip. We walked through the forest, then stopped. We were at the edge of a cliff, overseeing a small town. It looked like there were mining fields to the town's west side. We made our way down to the town. When we entered, I realized both me and Raphtalia had grown a few inches compared to our Master. The levels we had gained seemed to be boosting our growth. Me and her might be around the normal height for a tanuki now.

Our Master asked around for what materials could be around, and he led us to a cave. He held a borrowed pickaxe in his hand. Raphtalia looked a bit scared, but I was excited to go inside.

We ventured in with Raphtalia holding a torch and me keeping a small fire lit in my hand. I couldn't keep it around for long, but it was useful. After a few minutes of walking around, we entered a large area. Crystals glowed around the cave. I extinguished the flames in my hand and drew the cloak I had tighter. It was cold in that cave. Raphtalia still looked around, paranoid. "Nothing's going to happen, Raphtalia. We're going to leave as soon as our Master gets some ore." I said. My attempt at reassuring her succeeded, but she still kept glancing behind her. I looked at our Master, who was now holding a crystal in his hands. "This'll definitely sell for a lot of silvers." He said. I looked over his shoulder.

"Uhm, Master?" I waved her off. "It's probably not that important. Come and look at this ore, Raphtalia!" I said. The crystal he held was shining like a polished jewel. Raphtalia then let out a scream of terror, and I whipped my head around.

There stood one of the creatures who killed _them_. My hand whipped out and I began to chant. Our Master readied his shield as the dual-headed dog howled. "Dreifach Firebolt!" I screamed. A large, white-hot inferno raced towards the dog. It hit, severing the creature's tail and setting its coat on fire. Very hot fire. It howled and then launched itself at Raphtalia. I screamed as it was about to sink its teeth into my sister. My only family. Our Master made it in time, a small chunk of his shield chipping off as one of the dog's heads tried to bite through the metal.

The spell I had cast drained me, leaving my mana almost empty. My legs were jelly, my arms heavy weights on my body. I ignored my exhaustion and tried to recite another spell. "Fire Zweite!' I gasped, holding my arm out. The flames flickered in my hand, then extinguished. _This creature must die. It must pay for killing them,_ I thought. I screamed a battle cry and launched myself at the dog. My nails embedded themselves into its skin, drawing blood. The creature howled and using its unoccupied head, bit into me. I screamed as the canines sank into my side. The dog threw me against the wall and then focused its attention onto my Master.

It's teeth sank into his shoulder, and I saw him grit his teeth. "Raphtalia! Stab it now!" Raphtalia stood there stuck. My body refused to move to help them both. My mouth wouldn't move, and my eyes were stuck watching Raphtalia and the blood seeping out of me. Spots started to appear in my eyes.

"Raphtalia, I order you to attack the dog!" Her crest shone and she clutched her chest. She stayed put, terror plain as day on her face. Our Master murmured something I couldn't hear, and Raphtalia's crest stopped shining. My eyes were heavy, but I willed them to stay open. Raphtalia leapt into the air, and stabbed the dog in the head. She then slashed at it again, and it slumped over. I tried to cheer for her, but my arm wouldn't move and my mouth wouldn't speak. I tried again, but I was stuck, paralyzed. That was weird. A speck of dust landed near my eye and I blinked. For some reason my eyes wouldn't open again. Faded voices called to me as I slipped into the darkness.

**A/N: Dun Dun Dunnnnn! Ariete's been injured. I am going to mainly follow the plot of the original series, with some scenes shifted around and with Ariete present for all of them too! I will be going into events past the anime, so If you haven't read the manga or Light novel, you should. I'll be marking off where I start to get ahead of the anime. Episode 7 Is coming soon, and who isn't excited for that?**

**Thank you for all the love and support! I didn't expect that many favorites in only two days! Especially for a community as small as this one. Stay tuned for the next chapter!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Two chapters in one day! I know I'm spoiling all of you, especially since over the following weeks I'll probably not be able to post chapters daily like this. Thanks to Hawa-Chan and Azentra for leaving a review. See the end of the chapter for a response. Oh well, onto the story!**

I opened my eyes, then immediately closed them. Bright sunlight shone in my face. I tried to shift to the left to move my face away, but the side of my torso complained. I reached down and felt for my wound.

I recoiled my hand as the wound hissed from the contact. There was a large cloth bandage wrapped around me and even with the thick protection, a gentle touch made my whole side complain. I blinked, adjusting my eyes to the brightness. The door to the room I was in creaked open.

"Ariete!" My sister rushed to the point edge of my bed, then hugged my arm. Smart girl, not hugging me entirely. That'd be a real problem. "Hi, Raphtalia. Long time, no see." I joked. She looked behind her. "Naofumi-sama! Come here!" I raised an eyebrow at the male name, then looked in surprise as our Master came through the door. Our Masters never gave us their names. "H-Hello, Master." I said. He was probably furious because he had to treat me and wait for me to recover. He strolled lazily to my side and raised a hand over me. I braced for a slap, but it never came. Instead I got a pleasant warm feeling on my head. I opened my eyes to see him ruffling my hair. "Don't go putting yourself in danger again, Okay?" He said. I nodded, and he left the room to give me and Raphtalia privacy.

"Don't do that again. Don't ever put your life on the line like that again, you idiot." My sister sobbed into me. I tried to calm her by stroking her head, but she just kept holding onto my arm. "Careful there, My arm's about to fall off, Raphtalia." She let out a yelp, then retreated to the chair sitting right beside me. "How long has it been?" I asked. "Two days." I sighed. Two full days of sleeping. "Have you and Master been training still?" She shook her head. "How could we? You were in here and I was watching you every second I could. You scared me." I chuckled. "You're scared of everything, Raphtalia. Don't you know your twin is stronger than that? Sometimes I wonder if we're even twins…" She got flustered and spluttered denials.

I spent the next day in bed healing. With help from Naofumi's medicine and the room owner's son, I was able to stand up and walk. Soon, I was back out adventuring with Raphtalia and Naofumi. They both kept a monster's attention while I prepared to roast the monster. Sometimes, when they didn't want charred animals, Raphtalia would take the monster down herself.

We returned to our original city. According to the townsfolk, there was only a day left till the next wave. I didn't want to think about the waves. I still sometimes woke up terrified by nightmares of the last wave. Naofumi led us into the pub. "One of the cheapest meal sets and two kids meals. Me and Raphtalia's tails wagged in annoyance. "We're practically grown women now Naofumi-sama! Don't treat us like kids! We'll take two of the cheapest lunch sets, thank you." Raphtalia said. I gave a look of approval. She'd grown a whole lot in many… areas. I grumbled as her chest pressed against my arm. It was unfair. We were supposed to be identical until she just had to get a chest superior to mine.

We ate quickly, and then walked to our most frequented shop. I smiled at the black spot I put in the wall. "These two ladies have grown quite a bit since I last saw them." I flashed him a smile. He returned it, then frowned when he saw the charred wood. I smiled brighter and he let out a chuckle. "I need a new knife for this girl." Naofumi pointed to Raphtalia. I had gotten used to calling him by his name.

I learned that the shopkeeper's name was Oyami, and he recommended my sister start using a sword. She also was given a new leather breastplate. Raphtalia exited the changing room with her new equipment. _I swear the purpose of that breastplate is to emphasize the breasts, _I thought. A grumble of jealousy later, we left.

Naofumi was selling his wares while I stood idle in the town center. He was haggling with someone about something and I couldn't care less. Suddenly a man came up to Raphtalia. "Why, aren't you a fine lady? Such a dashing mistress like you shouldn't be in battle. Come with me, let me offer you a drink." The man had a devious smile on his face.

In silence, I creeped up behind the man. Raphtalia noticed me and began to delay the man while I ruffled through his satchel. My hand found a few vials on him. I casually strolled away, then came back. The man was still trying to convince my sister to come over to the bar with him. I placed myself next to Raphtalia. "Excuse me sir, but I have a big "no seducing" rule on my sister."

"Eh, what are you talking about? I am just trying to offer this fine lady a drink, little girl." Okay, that was the last straw. I revealed the vials in my hand and began to draw my backup dagger. "Hm, I don't think my sister would particularly like these poisons, right?" Raphtalia gave a quick nod and we shared a grin.

The man stepped back, then began to run away from us. I quickly shot a bolt of flame at his sandals, incinerating the strap. He stumbled, then fell onto the rocky path hard. Me and Raphtalia approached him, and in less than a moment her sword was drawn and my dagger was at his throat. "We don't take kindly to perverts, mister. Think about your actions." He gulped, his throat getting close to my sharp edge.

"Now, now girls, back away." Naofumi came up between us, and pulled my hand back. He took a good look at the pervert, then stomped his foot in the man's face. "You see," He said, continuing to stomp on the guy. "I'm a little protective of these girls." He kicked them and over and punched him in the back. "After some recent events, I'm not too fond of perverts either. So, in short, don't even think about coming within 50 meters of them." Naofumi ended his assault by spitting into the back of the man's head. We walked away, leaving a stunned crowd.

I kept an amused grin as we walked back to the inn. "That was so cool, Naofumi-sama! You taught the guy a good lesson!" I rolled my eyes at my sister's childish amusement. Sometimes it amazes me we are the exact same age. Also, what about my threat with the dagger? "You wound me with your words, Raphtalia. Do I not deserve recognition?" Raphtalia began to get flustered and I started to giggle. For a fleeting second, I saw Naofumi smiling a little.

We entered the inn, and rented a room. "Rest up girls, tomorrow's the day of the wave. It's going to be a long day for us." Me and Raphtalia mock-saluted like the knights often did, then started giggling. We fell asleep quickly, and awoke to the sound of a bell tolling.

The day was upon us now. The second wave of Destruction.

**A/N: We got to see a little more of Raphtalia's protective side. Starting next chapter, there are going to be more spoilers for non-manga or non-LN readers. It will not be too significant, but the warning still stands.**

**Azentra: You'll find out about Raphtalia and Ariete's backstory next chapter, including the reason for her magical affinity. Hope you read the manga or LN, because it involves a yet to be introduced character.**

**Hawa-chan: Awww indeed.**

Omake 1: Ariete's Bad Hair Day Part 1:

I woke up groggy and unenergized. The thing waking me was constant, gentle poking. "Get up Ariete, It's nearly noon already!" I held the covers over me tighter and grumbled some gibberish. Raphtalia made a harrumph sound, then I found myself blinded with light. Raphtalia had yanked the covers back.

She was laughing, but I was too sleepy to care what it was. I stumbled into the bathroom and glanced in the mirror.

This was going to be a bad day.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Minor Spoilers for anime only viewers. Just a mention of a character that hasn't been introduced in the anime yet. Also mentions of how the magic in Raphtalia's world works. Read and Review!**

I turned the page in the book and began to recite the words on the page. "Tsuvait Flame." I said. A small flame extended from my fingers and I looked at it in wonder. I looked at my mentor and he nodded in approval. "Good work, Ariete. Your parents must be proud of your quick progress." He smiled at me. "Thank you for teaching me so much Seatto-Sensei!" We bowed to each other and I scampered my way back to my home. "Mommy! Daddy! I learned to make fire today!" I cheered. My mother looked at me and smiled, and my father was sitting at the fireplace. He bounced Raphtalia, my twin on his lap.

"That's good, Ariete-chan! Come here and show your sister!" My father said. I ran over to where he was and recited the spell. "Tzuvait Flame." I said. A flame burst to life in my palm, and my family clapped. Raphtalia wiggled her way out of my father's grasp and ran to me. "Teach me! Teach me, Ariete!" We both giggled. We were sat down for dinner, and I lit the candles with my magic. Raphtalia ate her meal fast, then went away. I finished my meal not long after her.

The next day, my mentor and I went back over the magical strength. "Faust Magic is the weakest kind of magic," He lectured. "It's followed by Tzuvait, then Zweite, then Dreifach." I raised my hand. "Why would we use Faust if it's the weakest?" He walked over to his desk and retrieved a candle. "Using Zweite level Fire would melt all of the candle wax, then burn into the table if we used it, no?" I nodded, and followed him to the desk. "You can use weaker magic to do less powerful things," He recited a spell, and a tiny flame sparked on his finger. "Like lighting a candle." I looked in wonder then worried. "But last night I used the Tsuvait magic to light the candles at dinner! Was I being a bad mage?" I looked at him with a pout and he chuckled. "No, no it's fine. It only drains your mana a little faster, but when you're in a bad situation, it's helpful to know which strength to use."

He was about to continue his lecture, but then a large _womp _sound came from the outside. We approached the window. The sky was a bloody crimson, and many blue portals were opened. "Ariete, get your family and start running to the next town. Go." The order surprised me, but his tone made it clear. This was serious. I ran outside, where many of the other Demi-humans had gathered to look at the sky. My legs carried me to my home where my parents were ushering a terrified Raphtalia out of the house. "Mommy, Daddy! Seatto-sensei says we have to run!" I ran to my mother and pulled on her arm. "Hold on for a little, we need to get Raphtalia to calm herself."

Raphtalia was currently in the process of bawling her eyes out. I assumed the sky scared her. "Raphtalia, it's okay. We will be fine." She seemed to calm herself, and we started to run. People were being loaded onto carriages, the filolials beginning to squak. I saw beings beginning to fall from the sky. Me and my parents were 20 meters from the carriages when one of them was ripped apart.

A double-headed dog creature had my mentor in their jaw. A book slipped from his grasp as the dog chewed on his top half. I stood frozen in place as the man who taught me magic slipped down a beast's throat. "Run!" Our parents screamed. We ran in the opposite direction. A monster was destroying houses in front of us, so we made a left. Some creature was tearing a shop apart to our left, so we took a right. We ended up at the north edge of the village. Other families were there, including one face that I knew. "Rifana-Chan!" Me and my sister yelled. The mentioned girl perked up, then started to run towards us. The three of us collided in a group hug. A snarl brought us out of our trance, and we saw the beast that had devoured my mentor. The one who took me in as his apprentice even with my lack of wealth or standing. One of the front-standing people was chomped on and we all released a collective scream. The children were pushed to the back, as parents and people were eaten left and right. Then out of the corner of my eye, I saw a boy fall off the cliff. He screamed the whole way down, but landed into the river below. Desperate parents began to push their children off the cliff. As the adults were turned into beast food, I began to recite words.

The words of Seaetto-sensei echoed in my mind. "Ars Dreifach Firebolt!" I screamed. A white hot projectile of Fire appeared in my hands, but it started to expand rapidly. I tried to aim it at the dog, but instead it fired up into the sky. I watched it travel a few meters, then extinguish. I had failed.

For some strange reason, my body felt heavy. I tilted backwards for support, but the wall I was going to lean against never came. The cliff side started to get smaller, and the world started to darken. I wondered why. A brown speck came off the cliff after me. The world became dark, and I lost feeling.

* * *

We had gone straight to the pub to eat after I awoke. An awkward silence developed. I knew both me and Raphtalia had… not so fond memories of the wave. I knew Naofumi wasn't the kind to pry, and Raphtalia wouldn't be comfortable talking about it. I wasn't comfortable talking about it either. Two hours remained until the wave started.

We finished our breakfast and headed into the central church. Naofumi led us to the room containing the dragon hourglass. "Wow, so pretty…" Raphtalia said. Naofumi's shield shone and connected with the hourglass with a beam of light. _So he really is the Shield Hero…_ I thought. My thoughts stopped when I heard a snicker behind me. My head snapped around. There was a group of people, one man and four women. The man held a spear with a red jewel. _The Spear Hero. _Naofumi gritted his teeth.

"Oh, It looks like Naofumi's here." The voice had a mocking undertone I was suspicious of. Naofumi began to walk out, ignoring the other group. A red haired girl called him out. "Motoyasu-sama is talking to-" He shushed her with his hand and continued walking. Meanwhile, the spear hero, I assumed was Motoyasu, walked up to Raphtalia. He took her hand. "A fine lady like you has no place in the battlefield. Come with me, I can protect you." He said. Alarm bells started to go off in my head. They seemed to trigger in Raphtalia's head too, because she drew her hand back. I walked up behind her. "You know, we're not interested." I said. He didn't seem to get my threatening tone, but instead pushed Raphtalia out of the way and the grabbed my hand. "You are such a fine maiden. Come with me and-" He was cut off by me retracting my hand and slapping him. Red-hair glared at me "What do you think you're doing to Motoyasu-sama?" I glared back at her, then shifted the glare to the man in front of me. "Touch me again and you'll be having worse injuries than a red cheek." I grabbed Raphtalia and pulled her along with me. Red-hair started to scream at me, but I tuned her annoying voice out.

Two men waited by the doorway. They had the same disgust in their eyes as the townsfolk. "Don't get in our way today." The one in blue said. "The same applies to you." I said. I marched out of the room, following Naofumi.

I didn't let go of my sister's hand until we began to walk down the steps of the church. Raphtalia then walked up beside Naofumi. "Did something happen between you and the other heroes?" She asked. He gritted his teeth. "It's not important, Raphtalia." His tone held an air of warning, "Naofumi, I-" I put a hand on my sister's shoulder and she glanced at me. I shook my head and mouthed words to her. "It's a sensitive subject, Raphtalia." I wasn't going to tell her the rumors. She wouldn't take it well.

I learned of the rumors surrounding the Shield Hero early. Before me and Raphtalia had come into Naofumi's care, I had overheard a man inside the slave shop. He spoke of a man with black hair and green eyes who had forced himself on the princess. I had found the similarities between the man now in front of me and the description, and drew conclusions. It led to me attacking him under the bridge. Yet, Naofumi isn't the kind of man to do that. Yes his morals are lackluster, but they still exist. The encounter we had the previous day proved that. I still don't trust him, but he is at least a decent man. Until I find the truth, I won't act on any theories I have.

Raphtalia looked at me. Her face had concern on it, but she dismissed it. The church bell tolled, signaling the beginning of the wave. I felt a tingling sensation in my gut, then I was enveloped in light.

We appeared on a dirt road along with the other 3 heroes. They looked at us with disdain, except for the spear hero. He was drooling at the sight of me. Pervert. I glared at him and he sheepishly waved, then stopped staring at me like I was his god.

A blue portal opened and a wave of crimson stained the sky. "Naofumi-sama!" Raphtalia pointed to a town in the distance. A flare shot up from the town. "Let's go!" He shouted. We started to run down the path towards the town. The other heroes seemed to not care about the village that lay below, instead going to fight a large monster that had placed itself up the road.

We made it to the town where guards were busy gathering people in the town square. "Ariete, Raphtalia, go and collect the townspeople. Fight only when you need to." We both nodded and ran in opposite directions. More ground covered, more townspeople saved. I went West, Naofumi went North and Raphtalia East. I started to yell. "Everyone to the town center! Guards are collecting you all!" A few scared children and some adults ran past me as I headed further. I heard a scream to my left, and I changed course.

A man and his family were crowded against a fountain, surrounded by wasps. I fired a quick blast at two of them, but both dodged. I tried to slash at them with my backup dagger, but they all flew out of my reach. They formed a wall around the family, who barely dodged the stingers. The thought triggered a memory.

"_Raphtalia, Ariete! Don't go down there!" We giggled as our parents called for us. The small forest was our home away from home, our playground. Kiel started to climb a tree and we cheered him on. He swung himself onto a branch and waved at us. Our ears picked up a buzzing sound. Kiel snapped his head to look to his left, and a wasp stung his cheek. "Aaaah!" He screamed. "Kiel!" I shouted. Rifina called out and our parents were out in the distance. They ran towards us. Kiel was swatting the wasps away, but was being stung every time one hit his hand. His instincts kicked in and he swung his legs to swat the wasps away. A mistake. He began to fall, but Sadeena ran in and caught him. _

_Eclair followed in, casting a fire spell. The smoke drifted towards the wasps and they scattered away. _

I cast a spell. "Ars Tsuvait Firebolt." I chanted. I aimed it at a tree nearby, and it caught fire. The smoke drifted towards the wasps, who stopped attacking and fled. The man and his family rushed over to me. "We are forever in your debt, young lady. I thank you for saving my family." I smiled. "It's not a big deal. Go to the town square. The guards will direct you from there. I sheathed my dagger and ran down another alleyway. The tree I lit wouldn't spread its flames; the plaza was quite large.

I heard a another scream. My legs started pumping and I weaved my way through the town. The scream repeated itself, much louder this time. I recognized the voice. I let out a shout. "_Raphtalia!_"

**A/N: And that ends the longest chapter I've ever written. Almost 2200 words. Woohoo for record breaking! I've decided I'll add in a little Omake (Side Story) to the end of every even numbered chapter, so to see what comes next in Ariete's bad hair day, you'll have to wait for chapter 6. **

**Also wasn't Episode 7 great? I cheer on best girl Raphtalia in her efforts to charm Naofumi. You may or may not get a nod to that in the future.**

**Azentra: Hope this clears up a little of what gives Ariete her prowess in magic. It's not everything, but at least a part of what makes her so skilled. Not to mention her leveling with Naofumi. You'll see what else makes her so good in Arc 2 of this story. Yes, I plan on multiple arcs, based on the original story. **

**Hawa-Chan: Yes, Raphtalia and Ariete are still like daughters to Naofumi. Ariete is just the more rebellious teenager and Raphtalia is a little meeker, but not a doormat. You might be getting to see more of Raphtalia being badass next chapter.**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: I just can't stop writing for this. I blame you all for making this my most favorited fic(mostly because I posted a third chapter) and for my addiction. Check the bottom of the chapter for a new Omake! **

**Content warning: This chapter contains mentions of torture. Don't read ahead if you aren't prepared for that.**

I rounded the corner. Raphtalia was backed against a wall, defending a mother and a child. A sword had cut through one of Raphtalia's arms.

I screamed a battle cry and rushed in. Two of the skeletons turned to ash as I leapt over them. I landed in a roll next to my sister. "Ariete?" She asked. I waved my hand then lit more of the monsters on fire. As the remaining skeletons closed in, I drew my dagger. I parried a strike, then sliced the head clean off. The next one got a kick to the ribs and then a crushed head. I shuddered as I remembered where I learned these moves.

* * *

"Well ain't these two cute? I'll take them." A sadistic grin appeared on the fat man's face. The soldiers took some of his blood and painted it onto my crest. The crest burned me, and I let out a strangled cry. Raphtalia whimpered as her crest also shone.

The man chained us into the inside of his carriage and started the horses. "You two are from Rurorona Village, ain't cha?" Raphtalia nodded. "I can't hear you!" He called. "Yes." She quietly replied. The man turned around and kicked her off of the bench, her chains straining. "Hey! Don't you touch my sister! Tsuvait Flame!" A flame sparked to life in my chained hand. "Ohoh! The little girl is a mage! You'll be interesting inside the arena!" My eyebrow quirked at him. Arena? Wasn't that for adventurers to duel? "Extinguish your flame." His order sparked my crest and the flame turned into smoke then nothing. "Sit." I sat down on the bench inside. I didn't know what was going to happen, I just knew I had to keep Raphtalia safe. Rifina was with someone else. I didn't know if I'd see her again.

The carriage stopped next to a large wooden palisade. The gate opened, and our new owner dragged us in and placed ankle cuffs on me. He dumped me on the floor of a building and then gave Raphtalia to another man. "Prepare her." I started to struggle against my restraints but the iron cuffs wouldn't budge. Raphtalia left with the other man and our new owner came up to me. "It's time for you get armored up." He undid my shackles, gave me some clothing and shoved me into a changing room. The clothing consisted of mostly leather armor. I came out of the room and he put my hand cuffs back on. He then shoved me through a different door. The door closed behind me and for a few minutes I was in the dark, literally and figuratively.

A door opposite the one I came in from opened. I stepped into an open air arena with people ranging from peasants to nobles to adventurers watching. Another door on the opposite end of the arena opened. "Rafina!" I shouted. The girl stepped out of the door and started to rush towards me. I ran towards her, but I hit a purple field. "Ah, ah ah! No fighting before the start of the match!" The crowd laughed but I paled at the realization. "Rafina. As soon as they say the match starts, choke me. Release as soon as I'm asleep." I would have to try my best not to struggle, I knew I would overpower Rafina, or worse use my magic on her. "What!? But Ariete, I-I can't-"

"Just do it!" I ordered her. "It will make sure you're not punished." A horn sounded and I knelt down. Rafina wrapped her arms around my neck and I closed my eyes. Her grip tightened, and I tried my best to keep my instincts under control. They screamed for me to scratch, maim and kill whoever was cutting off my air supply, but I ignored them. I opened my eyes to see Rafina crying. Dark splotches floated in my vision and I blacked out.

I later woke up back inside the changing room. I was stripped down to just a cloth tied around my waist. Restraints held me to a table. I heard a sinister laugh. "You see, I had money riding on you." My owner came in holding a long and thin stick. "15 gold pieces that you would turn that girl into ash. But, no." He quickly dealt two blows across my chest, knocking the breath out of me. "You decided to give up your victory to the enemy. And that requires a punishment." He cracked a whip left on a desk to my left. A red glint was visible in his eyes.

The next day, he had me train punching and kicking targets. If I missed, I got one strike from the whip. If it wasn't hard enough, two strikes. After that, magic training. He gave me mana potions and told me to fire bolts of flame until i needed to replenish my mana with another potion. Misses were rewarded with two strikes across the hands with a cane. At night, he'd torture me until I was near death, then give me potions to replenish my health, to only deplete it again the following night.

Death was preferable to this hell of a life.

* * *

The skeletons had been dealt with, and I turned to Raphtalia. She was holding her arm where a gash was now present. I turned to the mother and child. "Go to the town center." They rushed away and I turned my attention back to Raphtalia.

I tore a piece of my cloak off and wrapped it around Raphtalia's arm. She protested when I started to tear at it. "My cloak is much less important than your safety, Raphtalia." We ran back to the town center. Guards were busy gathering people and fending off monsters that threatened the group. Naofumi wasn't anywhere to be seen. The villagers had already started filing out of the town. "Come on, let's help with evacuation." Me and Raphtalia started guiding people to a nearby hill. Most of the townsfolk were already heading that way, but some strayed. We guided them along.

Me and Raphtalia were at the town gate moving the last of the townspeople out when we saw a guard tower go up in flames. _Was that me? _I thought. I noticed the large amount of monsters nearby. A green dot jumped out of the tower. "Naofumi!" Me and Raphtalia shouted. The tower crumbled and fell sideways. I noticed something. There used to be a militia squadron helping us evacuate, but they were missing. "We need to go help Naofumi-sama!" Raphtalia said. We started to run towards the burning tower. After ducking through a few alleys, we snaked our way into a plaza. A large monster was attacking the missing militia. It was about to ram its head into the Leader of the squadron, but a shield stopped it. "Naofumi-sama!" He noticed Raphtalia calling to him. He pushed the monster back, then bashed it with his shield.

The monster was stunned for a moment, giving me and Raphtalia a chance to slice at it. The monster was felled and I sheathed my dagger. "A-Amazing." The Leader of the squadron said. "We'll take care of this, head north with the rest of the village." The militiamen nodded. "Be safe." They picked up their wounded and started running.

"The enemy's numbers aren't going down." Naofumi said. He was right, the town was completely overrun by an army of monsters. A heard a noise similar to flares going up and looked in the sky. Yellow streaks collected into a orb. "Are they planning to incinerate the village!? That's Covenant Magic!" I yelled. "Get down!" I dived near Raphtalia. Naofumi brought his shield up and wrapped his cloak around us. The orb burst, bringing down a rain of flames. A bluish field appeared around us. Protection Magic. The flames bounced harmlessly off the field. Around us, the whole town was being lit on fire. I knew Raphtalia recognized the scene. It was the same image on the day we were pushed off that cliff.

The hail of flames ended and a squad of knights marched down the path. "We burned them all like they were dry paper." They boasted. "Ah, the Shield Hero. You're tougher than you look."

"Tch. They didn't even care that we were here?" Great. Another group of arrogant idiots. I swear that blonde Spear Hero can go burn in my flames. I rushed out of Naofumi's cloak, and Raphtalia followed. I brought my dagger up and tried to stab one in the chest, but they parried. Raphtalia tried to slash at them, but they re-angled their sword. "You did this knowing Naofumi was here, didn't you?" I questioned. It wasn't a real question. Whatever their answer was, their entrails would be littering this street before they could scream for their mothers. "Draw your swords." The man in front of us ordered. The squad readied their blades,

"Are you with the Shield Hero?" They asked. "We asked you a question. Answer , but know your head will be my trophy by the end of this." I told them. "I am Naofumi's sword. No man shall disrespect him when I am present." Raphtalia told them. "Seconded here." I said.

"You think you can point your blades at us, you filthy Demi-humans? You are what is wrong with this country." I grit my teeth. Forget leaving a body, these people would be nothing but ash to go with the ash they produced. "What Knight neglects the people he defends? What Knight fires on the people he cares for?" We questioned.

"Forget it, you two." Raphtalia protested, but Naofumi shushed her. "That's right. As long as you two slaves obey your master, we won't be forced to calm both of you down. _Forcefully." _I would like to take your head and make it into meat for your children to eat, you bastard. "Alright. I could sit right here and watch you all become monster food." I looked behind the guards and smiled. Hooray for timing, I guess.

The guards scrambled to put up a defense, but it was too slow. Naofumi blocked a strike aimed at the leader. "Want to die an honorable death? Raphtalia!" My sister rushed forwards, stabbing at the creature. "Ariete, now!" I blasted the creature with a bolt of flame that bored a hole through the monster. Raphtalia finished with an upwards slice, and the monster fell. "Listen up you morons. We will buy you time. Get in formation." Naofumi signaled us, and we rushed forwards.

The incoming horde was massive, two or three times the size of the knights that were there to aid us. I ran forwards and chanted. A line of creatures were incinerated. Raphtalia came forwards and widened the hold. Even with one arm wounded, she had strong strikes with her sword. I dodged a spear and stabbed with my dagger, then kicked the body out of my way. Slash, kick, repeat. "Leave the Shield Hero here! We must aid the Three Heroes!" Damn it! I will find and take that head with my bare hands if I have to. A small group within the squad stayed, however. "Phalanx formation!" The leader of the group said. The group pulled into a tight formation, their shields interlocking. "Charge!" The group rushed forward, and they began to fight the horde.

Finally, some decent people. The leader from before had stopped to watch his men. "Abandon them. Let's go!" He pulled out of the town, and left the group. We fought the monsters, picking at their numbers. Then, the portals in the sky started to glow. "It's ending!" I yelled. The others looked at the sky and the portals shrank then disappeared. The sky returned to a soft teal.

I felt the sudden urge to go and punch the Spear Hero and his red haired companion at that moment, and I didn't know why. We stayed behind, helping the villagers come back and begin healing their wounds. Raphtalia finished rounding up the last of the monsters and we slayed them.

The town elder came to thank Naofumi. "We owe our lives and our property to you and your companions. We are forever grateful." He dismissed their gratitude. "You know, you could have at least said you're welcome. They're truly grateful, Naofumi." I said. He shrugged my statement off. "We prevented at least a few kids from going through what me and Ariete went through, didn't we?" Raphtalia said. "Yeah, Raphtalia. You did well."

It was over. The second wave.

**A/N: Wow! Another 2k chapter! I am surprising myself. I finished reading what's in the Manga Volumes, and I'm looking for the Web Novels. I think I have a clear picture of what is going to go in the following chapters. The next chapter will be the end of one of four arcs I have planned for this. I'll also be switching to updates every other day starting with the next arc. Come back tomorrow for the end to the Wave Arc. And on Saturday, we start the Filo Arc. **

**Azerete: Yes, it's overpowered. But then again a ten year old with enough skill to take down a creature ten times her size is also overpowered, so I guess it's justified?**

**And now, onto the promised Omake!**

Omake 2: Ariete's Bad Hair Day Part 2

"Waaah!" My hair was in tangles and sticking up in different directions. I tried to wrestle it into a decent shape, but it sprang back into craziness. Raphtalia was giggling at me from the doorway. I tried the comb we had, but trying to undo the tangles was more likely to rip out my hair than fix it. "Raphtalia, help me!"

My sister kept laughing. Naofumi returned from his morning run and popped his head into the doorway. "What's so fun-" he looked at me and started to snicker. "Not you too!" I said.

_This was going to be a bad day._


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Welcome Back for the Final chapter of the Wave Arc! Today in the blue corner we have Naofumi, and in the red corner we have the Spear Hero! Fight!**

Sometimes Raphtalia can be mature and act twice her age. Then sometimes she can act less than half her age. Currently she was going around trying every food available on the floor. I stayed by Naofumi, a new cloak hiding my face. I swirled the ice around an empty glass in my hand.

"Naofumi-sama! Come try the food!" She held a slice of cake in her hands. I swear her stomach is bottomless. Even with my growth, I eat only a little, then she's here eating a whole feast by herself. "Say ahh!" I rolled my eyes and opened my mouth obediently. The cake wasn't bad, it just wasn't my thing. "Too sweet." I told her. She made a harrumph sound and moved to Naofumi. "Try it!"

"Eat it yourself." Raphtalia pouted at Naofumi's words and walked away. I saw in the distance the Pervert Hero coming towards me and Raphtalia "Hello girls! Motoyasu-San at your service." He did a dramatic bow. "What do you want, Motoyasu-bou?" He jerked up in surprise. "Motoyasu-Bou? I thought we had a good relationship…" He reached for my hand. I pulled it away and filled it with the handle of my dagger. "Touch me, and you will be walking out of here with one less head, Pervert-San." He looked offended and stomped off. Naofumi looked at me with amusement. I smirked at him and his grin grew wider.

The party went on, the others mingling, me replacing my drink of water occasionally and everyone chatting with Raphtalia. I saw the Knight from yesterday boasting. I will have that head at some point. Motoyasu-bou came back up towards our group. "Look we-" I was cut off by him. "Naofumi, I challenge you to a duel." The other partygoers went silent, and a few gasped. "I've heard that Raphtalia-Chan and… and uh…"

"Ariete." I said. Tsk. He can't even remember my name. "Yes, Ariete-Chan and Raphtalia-Chan are your slaves." Oh boy, this isn't going to be fun. "So what? They're my slaves. It's legal here." Motoyasu-bou scowled. "It's not right to enslave others. We're heroes from another world, we can't do that."

"My opinion differs." Red-Hair walked up behind Motoyasu-bou. "Duel me. If I win, free them both."

"And what's in it for me?"

"If you win, things stay the way they are."

"I refuse."

I was about to add my two copper coins to the conversation when the king entered the conversation. "I overheard this conversation. A slave inside the hero's party? It seems you are rotten inside and out. I order you to accept his challenge." Raphtalia started to protest. "That won't be necessary! I'm with Naofumi-sama of my own-" She was silenced when a guard put a hand over her mouth. I sensed the guard behind me and ducked. I slipped forward. "Touch me and your dinner will be on the floor as well as your innards." The guard kept walking towards me, so I kicked out. Another came from behind me, and I punched. A third restrained my now bruised knuckles and the first covered my mouth. I struggled, but the knights overpowered me. I glared at the king.

"Poor things, forced to defend their Master." Raphtalia tried to say something but the gauntlet over her mouth muffled the sound. "Scumbags!" Naofumi shouted. The knights drew their swords as he stepped towards us. "If you refuse, both of them will be taken from you forcefully." Naofumi glared at Motoyasu-bou. "You better return both of them when I win!" The room erupted in laughter. I bit on the hand on my mouth. The knight yelped and instinctively pulled his hand back. "Naofumi will turn you from a pervert calling himself a hero into a pervert calling for his mother!" The knight tied a gag in my mouth while I tried to bite him again. "How dare she insult Motoyasu-sama!" Red hair screeched. I told her with my eyes exactly how little I cared about her opinion.

* * *

We were gagged and bound to chairs. It triggered… memories. Naofumi was standing inside an arena. I started to wiggle in the restraints. I was experienced in escaping ropes like these. It'd take some time, and I couldn't prevent the battle beginning.

Motoyasu-bou spun his spear around. "The duel between the Shield Hero and the Spear Hero will begin! It will end when one side is pinned or admits defeat!" The announcer boomed. Those rules would've been helpful in the past. I wormed my way out of the first loop in the rope.

Naofumi readied himself as Motoyasu-bou taunted him. "Be a man and admit defeat, Naofumi." Hah. If anything you should beg for forgiveness like a baby filolial. He leapt forward, stabbing his spear down. Naofumi deflected. Two more strikes came in the form of a side and then downward slash. Naofumi moved his shield effortlessly in time with the blows. The second loop had come loose.

They seemed to taunt each other on the battlefield. A red light shone from Motoyasu-bou's spear. "Chaos spear!" He shouted. He shot forward and sent out a flurry of blows. One hit their mark, shallowly cutting into Naofumi's shoulder. Damn it! I should be down there turning that spear into molten slag! Motoyasu charged forwards. Naofumi dodged his spear and slammed his shield into his enemy's stomach. Motoyasu stepped back to find a balloon chomping on his side. Hah. The third loop had come loose, two more to go.

The rest of the fight was less a duel and more a humiliation for Motoyasu-bou. He tried to attack Naofumi with a thrust, but his spear was met by a unique shield. The dog shield. The two heads forced Motoyasu back. He got hit in the stomach by a translucent green shield. He was then imprisoned inside a metal ball with two balloons. Yes! The crowd booed and whispered to each other. I saw Red-hair starting to walk down steps into the arena. The fourth loop loosened, and I started working at the fifth.

Naofumi walked up to the imprisoned Motoyasu-bou. "Are you ready to come out and admit defeat, Pervert-San?" I snickered. The fifth loop loosened and I slipped out of the ropes. Red-Hair was off to the side. She threw out her arm and started to chant. I threw off the last of the ropes and rose from my chair. "Ars Tsuvait Fireshield!" I cast out my hand and a shield made of flame appeared to the left of Naofumi. The wind spell from Red-Hair hit the flames and the shield broke. It did its job and what would've been a gust rivaling a tornado was reduced to a gentle breeze. The shield prison around Motoyasu-bou broke.

"YOU CHEATER!" Me and Red-hair shouted. That was her mistake, making her position known. Naofumi snapped his head around. "You!" He called out. "First you slander me and now you're sabotaging my duels?" Red-Hair glared at him. "What are you talking about? All I saw was your companion trying to aid you when this is obviously a one-on-one duel." She turned her head and a gold necklace slipped out of her shirt. It was shaped like the royal symbol.

"The duel is in Motoyasu-sama's favor." The king called. I grit my teeth. "That Red-Haired bitch interfered with the duel. I stopped it!" The entire room gasped. I knew I was speak out against the daughter of a king, one who had knights ready to kill me a few meters away. I didn't care. "How dare that filthy demi-human insult a royal princess!" I heard someone in the crowd shout. "Execute them!" I heard another voice say. "Sure, Execute me!" I shouted. "Kill me for all I care! Know that I won't be leaving here without that lying daughter of a bastard there paying for what she has done." I glared at Red-Hair. "You say that you have been raped, but is that really the truth? Making it up and then exploiting the pity of others is no better than that. You disgust me." I ended my speech by sitting myself back in my chair. Guards immediately rushed towards me. I ignored them as they pointed their blades at me.

Raphtalia screamed through her gag, tears pricking at her eyes. She stared at me. "Execute them both!" I heard the King say. One of the Knight drew their blade back. I heard Naofumi shout. The blade rushed towards my face and everyone waited to watch my head be severed. The sword came close and closer.

It was stopped by my dagger. I kicked the stunned guard onto the ground and then turned to the other one. He swung his blade at me, and I ducked. I tackled him, knocking the sword out of his hand. He squeaked when he found my blade at his throat. I stood myself and him up. The other knight stood and reached for his sword. "Touch the sword and this man dies." I threatened. The whole audience gasped. The arena was silent and the air tense. I glanced over at Naofumi. He was still on his hands and knees. He fell into the position before I blocked the knight's blade.

I circled around to Raphtalia and cut her ropes. She untied her gag and picked up one of the swords laying on the ground. I heard a pouring sound over our heads. "Raphtalia!" I shouted. I dropped the man and shoved her out of the way as a clear liquid fell from above. It landed on my crest and it started to disappear. "No. No!" I grasped at the disappearing symbol. I looked up. One of the priests held a clear bottle in his hands. He retrieved a second one. I scowled. "Tsuvait Firebolt!" I shouted. A narrow stick of flame appeared in my hand and I threw it up. It shattered the bottle of purifying liquid in his hands. "Did I ask to be free?" I yelled at him. "Did I ask you to separate me from Naofumi? No!" Red-Hair annoyingly entered the conversation. "You should be grateful you piece of filth!" I threw my dagger. It cut off a lock of her hair.

"Tell me, would your Spear Hero extend his hand to a pair of starving diseased slaves? Would he feed them and let them grow? Would he train them to be formidable warriors and help them move on from the past?" Motoyasu-bou tried to defend himself, "Of course I would!" He shouted. "Then where are your slaves? If you are so charitable then why don't you have fifty freed slaves behind you? And, If Naofumi-san is even half as evil as you say, then why aren't we starving and sitting inside a cage? Me and Raphtalia have freedom under him!" The mentioned hero snapped his head up at my use of an honorific.

Both Motoyasu-bou and Red-Hair looked taken aback by my words. I heard footsteps behind me and snapped my head around. "Die, you filth!" The knight yelled. He thrust his sword forward and I parried. The attack pushed my arm out and I was left wide open. I closed my eyes and awaited the slash that would take my head off. I looked at the back of my eyelids for a few more seconds then cracked my eyes open. The Knight was holding andle and the guard of the sword, the blade stuck to the wall by a glowing arrow. "That's enough." The bow hero said. The Sword Hero did some acrobatics and made his way onto the platform me and Raphtalia were on. "The duel goes to the Shield Hero. Myne interfered and Ariete blocked the interference. It is obvious that if the match hadn't been stopped the Shield Hero would have won." Finally, somebody making sense. I sheathed my dagger. "Ren-san, correct?" I said. He nodded. "Thanks." I made my way down to the arena where Naofumi was still kneeling. I approached him. "Are you alright?" I asked. He said yes, then stood. I saw for a fleeting second flames on his shield, but they disappeared when I focused my eyes on them. Must be seeing things.

"Let's go." We exited the arena, leaving behind a crowd of stunned people and a furious king. No doubt we were going to be fugitives soon. "I made sandwiches." Raphtalia said. I raised an eyebrow. "When did you get the ingredients and make them?" I asked. She winked at me. We made our way to the wall of the citadel. She unwrapped the sandwiches and handed each of us one. I took a bite. "Mmmmm! Sho good!" I said, food filling my mouth. Naofumi took a bite of his sandwich. His eyes started to tear up. "Oh no! Is it bad?" Raphtalia asked. He faced her with tears in his eyes.

"It's delicious."

**A/N: And that ends the Wave Arc! I'll be posting the first chapter of the Filo Arc tomorrow, and after that chapters will come every other day. School's getting hectic with exams coming in a month.**

**Azentra: Sorry about the naming issue last chapter, pure mistake, I swear! Also sorry for misunderstanding you. The whole magic levels thing doesn't come up In the manga, so my knowledge is from mostly the Shield Bro wikia.**

**Check back next time for the end of "Ariete's bad hair day" and Chapter 8!**

**Edit: I forgot to mention this in the original end A/N. -bou is a Japanese suffix used mostly for small children. It's also used to demean and insult someone. That's all. Cheers!**


	8. Interlude: The Harvest Festival

**A/N: Hello! I've decided I'd like to have an interlude between each arc. Don't worry, I will have Chapter 8 out by tomorrow and 9 on Monday After that I'll start the every other day schedule. This just a little extra for Y'all. I've also found the translated versions of the Web Novel, so if you wanna pick that up send a PM my way. The story will be following that storyline from now one, so I suggest reading it. Enjoy!**

**Warning: Gory details. It is marked, so you can skip it if you aren't comfortable with that. It isn't excessive but still might cause a bit of bile to come up your throat. You have been warned.**

We ran into the forest at a blazing pace. The animal jumped from tree to tree and dashed their way throughout the forest like a professional acrobat. The hare used the tree beside them as a springboard, launching themselves to the left. I slid on the dirt and pumped my legs. "Raphtalia, Now!" I yelled. My sister dropped from a tree a few meters in front of us and threw a net out. The hare got stuck in the net and I picked it up. "That'll sell at the butcher's." Naofumi-san walked out of the bushes. "It's not like you helped at all. You were the one who tried to sell us back to the slave owner!" I grumbled.

Naofumi-san raised his hands. "Hey, that was just a joke." Raphtalia glared at him. "I could see your eyes turning into coins when he quoted the price." Naofumi-san sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. I started doing an impression of the slave trader's voice. _"I'll give you 7 gold coins for each of them, seeing that they are non-virgins." _Raphtalia played with my act. "I'll have you know I'm pure!" She said dramatically. _"Pure!? I'll take them both for 25 gold coins!" _We both broke out in laughter while Naofumi-san looked between us. "Hey, If you keep teasing me like this I might take those 25 gold coins. He did have a strong-looking wolf in there…" Raphtalia and I cheerfully grabbed his shoulders. "We know you'd never do something like that, right?" We said in unison. He stayed silent and we tightened our grips. "Ah! Okay, okay I'm just joking no need to- Ow!" We giggled and released our hands. He rubbed both of his shoulders.

We ventured back in town. We sold all of the rewards from the forest as well as the potions Naofumi-san had been making in his spare time. "578 silvers." he counted. "It'd be 678 if you hadn't bought that monster egg, y'know," I told him. The egg was sitting inside an incubator at the slave master's place. "If it comes out a dragon, you two owe me a back massage." I snickered. "Betting on a 1 in 250 chance? You're on." I said. We entered the inn and Naofumi-san rented a room. A poster caught my eye. "Hey, Raphtalia. That looks interesting." I pointed to the board on the wall. Raphtalia squeaked and flushed. "Nyotaimori!? Ariete, no!" I looked at her strangely. "No, I was talking about the poster for a festival tomorrow. What's Nyotaimori?" I followed her gaze to a different poster next to the festival poster. I quickly averted my eyes from the illustrations.

Why? Why did that exist? I was contemplating the reasons why someone would think using human skin as a dinner platter would be a good idea, but Naofumi-san interrupted us. "What're you two looking at?" Naofumi-san followed Raphtalia's gaze which was still locked on the lewd poster. Naofumi-san walked up to it. "I didn't think you two were into Nyotaimori. If you want I can take you here." Me and Raphtalia quickly shook our heads. "N-no. We were looking at the festival posters." He moved his eyes to the right. "Oh. They have Akita Kanto here too?" I looked at him strangely. "It's what they called the Harvest Festival back in my original world." I looked at the poster. The festival was here for the next 3 days. "Want to go?" He asked us. I nodded, and Raphtalia nodded as well. I realized something. "We don't have dresses or casual clothes to wear to the festival." I looked at myself and Raphtalia. "We could wear our armor, but it'd look out of place." I resigned myself to look weird for a night and started smoothing my clothes out.

"Naofumi-san! The festival's in a few hours!" I called. He gestured me to follow him. "We're going to get you two some dresses." We made our way back to Oyami's shop. "The Shield returns. What can I do for you?" The shop looked a little different. I glanced at the timbers. "Hey! Where's the charred spot I made in the wood?" I asked. The wood seemed to have been replaced. "A black spot ain't the prettiest thing to put in a shop." He said. I sighed. "We need two dresses for these two," Naofumi said. "Also armor for him!" Raphtalia chirped. "What? I don't need armor. The shield is enough."

"No, it is not! You got injured dealing with porcupines this morning!"

"I'll be fine." Raphtalia stepped up beside me and pulled my dagger out of its sheath. "Hey! That's mine." I complained. She brought it up and pointed it at Naofumi. She couldn't hurt him, neither of us can. I got the crest restored this morning for the EXP boost from Naofumi's Shield. "Okay, okay. Two dresses and armor for me." Oyami held a thinking pose. "Well the armor I have here, but for dresses, you're going to need to go to a weaver. I know one right around here. Let's look for your armor first." He came to the front and pulled a curtain back. Various suits of armor ranging from chain to full plate. "The only decent suit I have is these two." He pointed to a suit of chain and a thin suit of iron plate. Naofumi shuddered at the sight of the chainmail. He looked at the plate. "I don't know if either of these suits me." Oyami offered a solution. "Well if you got the materials, I could custom-make something." Raphtalia's eyes glowed. "Custom-made? Yes! What materials do you need?" Oyami scribbled down a list. "We have the hides and the feathers. The metal shouldn't be too expensive." I read the list. "You're literate?" Naofumi asked. "Yes, I can read. I can also turn rabbits into charbroiled dinner. No need to be amazed." I said. We thanked Oyami and he gave us directions to the weavers.

We entered the weavers. A short woman walked up behind the counter. "Hello! What can I do for you?" "2 dresses, one for myself one for my sister right here." Raphtalia said. The woman took measurements, then scurried into the back room. "The dresses I can get done in 3 hours." We left the weaver to do her work and stopped by an atelier. "2 plates of iron and a plate of copper." The atelier handed the plates to Naofumi. "I'll give ya a discount on that. Deserve it for treating me to the sight of these two young ladies. Uh… thanks for the compliment but that says alot more about you than me. We headed back to Oyami's shop. "I swear everyone in this city is a damn lolicon," Naofumi complained. "They're both ten and yet everyone is fawning over them. There's a difference between thinking a little girl is cute and being creepy."

Me and Raphtalia twitched while Oyami deadpanned. "You're kidding, right?" I said. "You two are still children." I guess that statement ticked Raphtalia off because she started shouting at Naofumi. "We're not children! We are fully grown adults and you should stop acting like we're kids!" She yelled. "What she said." I sat back and waited. "You two are still ten years old. That's not the age of an adult. And Ariete still kinda looks like a kid." I summoned a stick of fire. "Call me a kid again and you'll be exiting this shop with one more hole in your body." Naofumi waved me off and handed the materials to a stunned shopkeeper. "It'll be ready by tomorrow," Oyami said.

We waited at the inn for another hour then left for the weavers. We entered the shop. "Welcome back! The dresses are ready!" She went into a backroom and came out holding two dresses, one brown and gold, the other pink with black trim. I assumed the pink one was mine, and the gold one Raphtalia's. Mine looked more like a coat with a skirt attached while Raphtalia's was a proper maid's dress. "I'm not sure how pink would look on me…" I trailed off. Raphtalia had an odd look on her face. "Kyuu! It's adorable!" She squealed. She rushed forwards and grabbed both of them and shoved the pink one into my hands. "Try it on!" She dragged me to a dressing room in the corner. "Hey, Raphtalia, aren't you a little too excited to try these- wait don't- Ah!" She somehow stripped me in under a minute and started sliding the dress on. "It looks great!" She then opened the curtain and shoved me out. "W-wait! Raphtalia!" I got pushed into Naofumi who was waiting outside with a bewildered look on his face. "Erm, uh…" I pushed myself off him. "Raphtalia! I can dress myself!" I scolded. Naofumi was staring at my chest. "Don't turn into Motoyasu-bou," I warned. He averted his eyes. "It's just that I don't really remember you having a chest. I used my hand to chop his shoulder. "Ow!" I scowled and turned my head away from him. Raphtalia exited the booth. We walked out to let the weaver admire her own handiwork. Raphtalia did a little twirl. "For her, I used some yellow cloth to bring out that charm and brown trim to go with her hair." She said while pointing to Raphtalia. "For you, I used some pink cloth for the upper half to make you cuter, and then black for the skirt to show your strength. I also padded up the chest area to increase the womanly charm." I scowled as Naofumi and Raphtalia snickered. We thanked the dressweaver and paid. "Only 40 silvers?" Naofumi raised an eyebrow at the low price. "It was the least I could do. You saved my sister and niece in Riyutte, and they asked me to help you out if I ever saw you." We thanked her again and left.

"To the festival!" Raphtalia shouted. She started running ahead. Naofumi and I let out a sigh and chased after her. The festival had a zoo full of beast men, adventurers dueling (for fun) and many stalls offering food or prizes. "Wow, it's really lively in here, isn't it?" I said. There was even supposed to be a new contraption unveiling near the end of the festival. "Well, where do you two want to go first?" Naofumi asked. I stepped up to play a knife throwing game. "You get three knives for 10 copper coins. If you hit all 3 targets, then you win a prize." The stall owner said. I tossed him a silver coin and he put a bag of change in Naofumi's hands. I received the knives. I threw the first, and it sunk itself in the target. One down. The second took a chunk off the target. Two down. I threw the third. It missed by half a meter. "Aw, too bad." the owner said. I smirked. "Tzuvait Firebolt." An arrow of fire formed in my hands and I threw it at the target. It hit. "I'll be taking that prize now." I snatched it from his hands and rejoined the group. It was simply a soft imitation of a Filolial, a child's toy, but I kept it. "Nice work there, Ariete," Naofumi said. I smiled and he grinned.

The festival went on, and near the end, I heard a booming voice. "Come one, come all! My contraption for couples is now unveiled!" He pulled on a rope and the cloth over a large object disappeared. It resembled a wheel, but carriages sat on the end of each spoke. "A Ferris wheel…" Naofumi murmured. "Hm? What's a Ferris wheel?" Raphtalia asked. "It's just something similar to that contraption back in my world." She nodded. "Want to go?" We started dragging him along towards the contraption. We seemed to make it there before a long line gathered. "Only two at a time!" the announcer from before called. "Raphtalia, you and Naofumi can go first." "Eh, what about you?" I leaned into her ear. "I'll be fine. Just don't get too comfortable in there. We already have an egg about to hatch." I whispered. She went beet red and then started spluttering denials. "Are you ready to go Raphtalia?" Naofumi asked. She kept her head low. "Y-yes."

* * *

Naofumi offered his hand out to Raphtalia. She took it and they both walked together to the contraption. "50 copper coins please." Naofumi gave the operator a bag and he opened the door. Raphtalia sat opposite of Naofumi. "I'm very grateful I met you Naofumi," Raphtalia said. She fidgeted in place. "You've improved not only my life but also Ariete's. You've given us food, a place to sleep and a person that cares for us. You've made me face my own fears and comforted me." Raphtalia started to become less nervous. "I am your sword, Naofumi. Ariete and I will stay by your side forever." Naofumi looked up, shocked by Raphtalia's declaration.

Raphtalia brought her owner into a hug. He returned it. They stayed hugging for a few seconds, then Naofumi broke the silence.

"Those were exactly the words I wanted to hear."

Naofumi pressed his lips onto Raphtalia's forehead. She went redder than a sunset.

* * *

Naofumi walked out of the attraction with a dazed Raphtalia behind him. One of my eyebrows raised. She looked like a drunk. "Naofumi…kiss...baby…" Raphtalia was murmuring different things. "What did you do to my sister!?" I demanded. He rose his hands. "Hey, I just kissed her on the forehead, it's no big thing." I realized what happened. I started to giggle. "You know that since he's kissed you could be pregnant now." I tittered as she somehow went redder. "Let's go Naofumi-san." I left behind my sister. We got onto the attraction.

It started and we rose higher, able to see the entire festival grounds. "The view's nice isn't it?" Naofumi nodded. "We never really did talk about our pasts, did we?" Naofumi's head rose in interest. "We didn't." I looked at him. I could tell this was a bit of an uncomfortable topic for him. "I'll go first." he nodded.

"You already know both me and Raphtalia didn't have the nicest of owners. We got sold, abused, then returned to the slave trader. The first owner however…" I grit my teeth. "He was a host for a slave fighting ring. He made… he made us fight each other. The children from our town… some refused to fight, some didn't care that we came from the same town. They used us like pawns in a board game." Naofumi listened closely. "One day, I had to fight someone. A good friend of mine. One I grew up with."

* * *

I had been training for 15 days. Pain was a constant member of my life. I hadn't seen Raphtalia in two weeks. I swung the knife at the target. It had many cuts from previous trainings. Slash up, then down, then stab. Up, down, stab. It was ingrained into my memory. I slashed horizontally and the head of the target came off.

"Nicely done. It's time for your next match." I whimpered as he tugged on the slave collar. He dragged me into a wooden box I was now familiar with. I took a knife from the wall. It was stained with blood. I had killed 2? 3? I can't even remember anymore. I spun the knife in my hand. Hopefully, this kid won't be someone close to me. I learned early my job was only done when the target was dead.

**(Content Warning: DIsturbing Content including death and the gory battle is ahead. Skip to the next bolded part if you are not comfortable with that.)**

The door opened and I walked out. My body froze at who I saw at the other end. "Here we have these two slaves back for a rematch! The fight will begin in 10...9…" No. I refuse to fight Rifina-chan. I dropped the knife and walked near the purple barrier. "Rifina, do the same thing we did as last time." I called to her. She didn't respond. Instead, she faced me and I saw something dark in her eyes. It was the same look my Master gave me at night. I scrambled back to my knife as the horn sounded.

I brought my knife up just in time as she dashed forward and tried to slash at me. She then tried another slash. I dodged. I dodged another two slashes and parried a stab. "Rifina, it's me! Ariete!" She growled and slashed at me faster. I barely kept my defense up. "Rifina, Why!? It's Ariete! I'm your friend!" I started to cry. She screamed and thrust. I didn't dodge in time and her knife went through my side. I gasped in pain. She retracted her knife. "THIS IS FOR KILLING RAPHTALIA!" She tried to thrust down, but I stopped her arms. What was she talking about!? I haven't seen Raphtalia is days. How could I have killed her!? "What!? I didn't! She's my sister you idiot!" She was starting to over power my muscles. The knife moved ever so slightly towards my chest. "'SHE IS DEAD! YOU KILLED HER!"

I froze. Raphtalia's dead? No. NO. NO! Wait. A vision flashed across my face. Rifina stood. She had Raphtalia pinned against a wall. The knife was driven through Raphtalia's throat. Rifina killed her. SHE KILLED HER! "GAAAH!" I flipped Rifina over. I picked up my knife and started stabbing. By the end, i was covered by a warm, red liquid. I looked down. Rifina laid there, her hair soaked with blood and her face had shock in it.

**(Okay, gory battle over. You all are safe for now.)**

It settled in what I had done. I killed Rafina. My childhood friend. I fainted onto the dirt of the battlefield.

I awoke to clapping. My Master was looking at me from above. "You did well! I had no idea the memory manipulation on the crest would work! Those slave traders sure are useful!" My master boasted. "Keep this up and you might even get a reward!" He left the room.

* * *

"Oh." At some point during my story, I had started crying. Naofumi embraced me and I cried into his shoulder. His cloak was wet with tears when we got out of the carriage, but no one pried.

The next day we ventured back to the slave trader in our battle armor. We entered the tent. "Ah, just in time! The egg is starting to hatch. I saw cracks start to appear around the egg. Let's ee what this has inside it…

**A/N: Hey! So hope you all liked that! Over 3k words! I'm proud of myself. Naofumi got his armor, Raphtalia got the thought of pregnancy in her head and a little more insight into Ariete's past. I didn't mean for the fight to be bloody, just some fire, but my inner writer decided to make the death a little more gruesome. **

**Thanks to zinmaster24 and Azentra for their reviews. Since they both touched on the same points, I'll direct this response to the both of them.**

**I didn't realize I was putting Raphtalia's character down like that. I'll try to be better in the future, just wait for Chapter 8 tomorrow. Ariete is the main focus of the story, but I'll try not to make Raphtalia essentially a background character. As for the Shopkeepers name, I used the WN version of the name, which was Oyami. I'm reading the WN so I'll be adding canon and non-canon bits of the story as we go on.**


	9. Chapter 8

**A/N: Here it is! The beginning of the Filo arc. For WN and Manga readers, that means the story up to about the Fitoria Chapters. That does mean that we'll be going past the anime, so anime watchers must beware. Thanks to Azentra and Hawa-Chan for the reviews! The third and final part of "Ariete's bad hair day" will be at the bottom. Enjoy!**

The eggshell cracked, and a small bird popped up. It tweeted then launched itself at Naofumi. "What!?" It nestled itself inside his hair. "Awww! It thinks you're its father!" Raphtalia cooed. "Well, that makes you the mother, eh?" I teased. "What? N-No! I- That's- " I laughed as she tried to deny everything that happened at the festival.

The bird's shell was absorbed into Naofumi's shield. It stayed on Naofumi's head cutely. "You lost that bet, this definitely is no dragon," I said. "Then what is it?" I shrugged. The bird chirped occasionally, and Raphtalia kept adoring it. "It's so cute!" She squealed.

"It looks like a Filolial. She'll fetch ya 200 silvers when she's an adult." The slave trader said. "Hm. 200 silvers isn't bad. We should give it a name." Really? You're gonna sell that thing but you also want to name it? That's a recipe for heartbreak. "How about Filo?" Naofumi said. "How original. It's so original it loops right back to being plagiarism." I joked. He sighed. "Filo it is then. Let's go, we have items to sell." We exited the tent. I yawned as we walked through the town.

We stopped by a medicine shop. The owner loved to buy the potions from Naofumi, and we got silvers in exchange. The door jingled as we entered the shop. "Ah, you're the Shield Hero, yes?" The man asked. Naofumi nodded. He was handed a book. "Here's a gift, you've been crafting basic potions. This here has some intermediate and advanced recipes. It's the least I could do after you saved my family in Riyuute." The man smiled at us. He looked at the bird sitting atop Naofumi's head. "It's a filolial chick. Hatched just a few hours ago." I explained. The man shook his head. "The lady from the magic shop next door also has a gift for you." He directed us to the bookstore west of his shop.

I opened the door, and the immediate smell of books hit me. It was nostalgic. "This is like Seatteo-sensei's library…" I murmured. A plump old lady wearing a cloak similar to mine came out of the shelves. "Ah, you must be the Shield Hero! I must thank you for saving my grandchildren!" She said excitedly. She started to pull Naofumi over to the back of the store. I recognized the equipment she held in her hands. "It seems you have an affinity for support and healing magic, Shield-sama. The warrior girl on the left has light and dark magic affinities as expected of a tanuki. The cloaked girl seems to have dark and fire affinities." She listed. I already knew of my affinities. I preferred to focus on my fire magic. Dark magic was harder to learn and I could turn most enemies into charcoal before they even cast a spell.

"Hm. It seems we all have affinities for magic. Wait, If you have no light magic affinities, how did you cast that spell to lift Raphtalia's crest?" Naofumi asked. "Lazy mage came in, bought a slave. He left his crystal ball near me. Even if I don't have light magic affinities, I can use basic spells as long as I study them for long enough."

The old lady looked at me. "I've only learned to use spells from other affinities after many years of study. Either you've been practicing magic since birth, or you have extreme skill, young lady." I grinned with pride. "Both, actually." The lady blinked then took three books from her table. "There is some beginners knowledge in here and basic spells. For more advanced skill books… please buy them." I noticed that there was a scrubbed price tag on the books. 30 silvers each. Yikes. "Thank you." I bowed. The old woman smiled at the filolial still resting in Naofumi's hair. "You know, we ought to move that chick to a place other than your head," I said. He chuckled and we left the store.

Naofumi picked up his armor from Oyami's shop. "It makes me look like a bandit king," Naofumi complained. Raphtalia was beaming. "It looks perfect!" Oyami seemed proud of his work. "I call it the Barbarian's armor! An iron breastplate, a green cloak and fur lining the shoulders. It's a masterpiece. Only 130 silvers out of your pocket too." Naofumi's face drooped at the name. "Nice way to keep the reputation up!" I joked.

It was mid-day. "We could head to Riyuute village. They probably wouldn't mind paying us for helping with cleaning. The creatures around there are good practice." Raphtalia suggested. I nodded in agreement. We left the west gate of Castle Town and started towards Riyuute. Both me and Raphtalia tried multiple times to get the chick off of Naofumi's head, but it refused to move. Anytime we moved it off, it would just jump back on top of his head. I sighed. "Filo really likes the feel of your hair. Maybe I should cut some of it off and try it." Naofumi glared at me. I snickered.

We traveled fast and ended up in Riyuute before dusk. The sky was bright orange. "Ah! Shield Hero-sama! You're back!" One of the men stepped forward and bowed. Yes, flatter me more. "Is that the chimera, the boss of the wave?" Naofumi pointed to the mangled corpse of a lion-headed monstrosity. Its body was similar to the Cerberus that had overtaken Rurorona. A severed lizard tail laid to its left. Naofumi examined the corpse. "Do you mind if I take some of it?" Naofumi glanced at the villager. "No, we were just dividing the corpse and throwing it out. Take all you need." Naofumi started to absorb the pieces of the creature into his shield. I saw shapes and text flash over his eyes. "Could you preserve some of the meat? Dry it and store it somewhere. I'll probably come back for it." Ick. Whatever you're going to use it for, it's going to be gag-worthy.

We spent the next few days hunting in the forests near the village. Filo grew rapidly and eventually, we had to borrow a stall in the local tamer's ranch to keep her. "The slave trader did say 200 silvers for a filolial. We should head out today and arrive tomorrow in Castle Town to sell her." Naofumi said. He opened the door to the stall and guided Filo out. "Let's try riding her!" Raphtalia suggested. We bought reins from the tamer and attached them to Filo. "Here we go!" Naofumi jumped on top of Filo. He pulled on the reins. "Giddy up!" He said. I furrowed my eyebrows at the strange phrase. Filo started to run erratically, zig-zagging through the field. "Ahh! No! Stop!" Naofumi cried. I laughed and Raphtalia looked worried. "Stop you stupid bird!" Naofumi shouted. The crest on Filo's breast shone and it stopped in place and squawked. Naofumi got launched forward and faceplanted into the dirt. I doubled over laughing while Raphtalia ran up to check on him. She snickered also as she helped Naofumi up. "You okay?" I asked through gasps. Filo squawked again.

"Stupid bird," Naofumi muttered. He pulled on Filo's reins and we left the village. We traveled for about an hour and found a team of workers at a river. "Sorry, a storm blew through and destroyed the bridge. It won't be fixed until tomorrow." The leader of the team said. We set up a camp nearby. Naofumi fished for a while and we ate dinner. "Filo seems hungry. Hand her a fish." Naofumi said. Raphtalia picked up two fish and put them in front of Filo. The bird gulped down both of the fish and then ran around Raphtalia and picked up four more in her mouth. "Hey, that's our breakfast!" I ran towards the bird, but she put the four fish down her gullet. I sighed and returned to my sleeping mat. Filo made herself comfortable by the fire and seemed to go to sleep. I turned off my mental lamps and fell asleep.

The next day I woke up to a young girl's voice. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and looked around. "What!?" I shouted. Raphtalia woke up beside me. "Huh?" She looked around and then followed my gaze. A blonde naked girl was trying to wake Naofumi. "Master! I'm hungry!" Naofumi then started to stir. "What?" He looked at the girl. "Naofumi! Explain yourself!" I ordered. "What!? I don't know anything! I wake up and lo and behold a naked girl is in front of me!" The girl kept tugging at Naofumi's cloak. "Master, you gave me a name and you don't even remember it?" Wait, that means… no. "Filo?" All three of us chorused. The girl nodded. "How did you even- what!?" Naofumi said. "I transformed! See?" A cloud burst from Filo's body. When it cleared, Filo was back as a very fat filolial.

"Your body fits your eating habits, Filo. Also, you can transform? You must be really strong magic-wise…" I trailed off as my thoughts wandered. She'd make a good companion to my magic abilities. "How can she transform?" Naofumi asked. "Filolials are some of the most magically strong animals available aside from dragons. Transformation magic is still a challenge for most of them, still. I've never used transformation magic." I examined Filo. "You might need a better crest for her if she's like this. She could be a queen. Also, where did her reins go?"

"Oh, those ropes? I threw them in the river!" I deadpanned at Filo's cheerful tone. We headed back to the bridge. It was completed and the workers were cleaning up. We walked at a brisk pace to get to Castle Town.

"Oyami! Help me!" Naofumi started beating on the shopkeeper's door. "We're closed!" he yelled back. "Help us!" Naofumi kept slamming his fist on the door. Oyami finally opened the door. "What!?" He yelled. Behind us, Filo was humming. She then transformed. "Ah! A new person!" Oyami's face went from angry to exhausted. "I'm too old for this," he muttered. He let us into his shop. "Explain."

"Filo was a big bird but she can be a little girl too!" Filo chirped. She transformed again into her bird form. "How do you get yourself in these situations?" Oyami asked Naofumi. "I don't know. I'm just cursed, man." Naofumi leaned against the wall, his head in his palms. "We need clothes that don't rip when she transforms. I'd rather not walk around this city with a naked girl that looks like she's 6 following me." Oyami shook his head. "We don't have those here. Go to a weaver's shop or something." A light flickered on inside my mind. "The dress weaver from last week. She'll know." We left the shop and headed back to the quaint clothing shop.

"Ah." the weaver said. We had explained the situation. Filo transformed back into human form, she looked excited. "Well, I haven't worked with magic thread with years!" She said. "Magic thread?" Naofumi looked lost. "Magic thread is made from the wearer's mana. Filo will have to spin it herself and then she can weave a dress." I explained. "I don't have anything that will spin magic thread." the weaver said with disappointment. "We could go to the magic shop. The lady there might have a spinning wheel." We left the store and made our way to the magic shop.

"Sorry, but my spinning wheel is out of service. The gemstone used for obtaining and transforming the mana into thread is broken and I haven't been using it much over the years." The lady said. She showed us the spinning wheel. The ruby-colored gemstone at its center was cracked. "We could keep Filo in her Filolial form for now," I suggested. Naofumi nodded and we left the store. With nothing to do, we strolled towards the inn. A paper caught my eye. "Naofumi-san! You might want to see this!" I walked up and took the paper from the stack.

"Spear Hero Motoyasu appointed Lord of Riyuute village."

**A/N: Ah, another chapter done. This chapter is a bit slow, but all necessary for the next few chapters. I hope you all liked it. I don't know if they ever gave a canon name to the capital of Melromarc. The wiki lists it as Castle Town, so I used that.**

**Azentra: Don't worry, I haven't forgotten that little tidbit. Naofumi still sees both Ariete and Raphtalia as children, and you'll see why soon. The interlude is definitely important, especially each of the girl's time with Naofumi in the Ferris wheel. Thanks for sticking with me as I destroy the story and then rebuild it using dollar store glue. **

**Hawa-chan: Never heard of it, so I googled it. Did you mean the group as a whole or just one of the characters? It doesn't matter, though. Thanks for the review!**

**And now onto the Omake**

Omake 3: Ariete's Bad Hair Day 3:

I continued trying to tame my hair as we walked out to the fields. Other people snickered as they walked by and I glared at them. "Raphtalia, you better help me with this," I growled. She laughed and then started to try and fix my hair. She ran into the same problems as me. "A beauty parlor would be able to fix this, probably," Raphtalia suggested. I grumbled.

"I could take you to one if they have it here." Naofumi offered. I nodded and he started to ask around. We found a small outdoor parlor on the north side of the town. "This is going to be quite the job." The woman at the parlor told us. "10 silvers," Naofumi grumbled and handed the coins over. The woman sat me in a chair and started to bring a tray of oils, scissors, and other tools next to me. She worked on my hair for almost an hour. "All done!" She gave me a mirror and let Raphtalia and Naofumi look. "Ahhh! It's so cute!" Raphtalia started to suffocate me from behind. I looked in the mirror.

My hair was alot better, now extending only to my shoulders in neat curls. "It's perfect! Thanks!" I told the haircutter. She beamed. We left the parlor and girls in the streets looked at my hair with envy. This day is going a lot better.

**Alright, that's it for the Omake! I'll provide all of you another chapter tomorrow, then Wednesday! See ya!**


	10. Chapter 9

**A/N: And we are back with the final daily update for this fanfic. Starting with chapter 10, I will be making these chapters every other day. So Chapter 10 will come out Wednesday the 27th. I'm so sorry this came out so late in the day, It was meant to come out earlier, but things happened. That's all for now!**

"We leave for less than a day and this is what happens?" Naofumi sighed. "How long does it take for us to travel there on foot? Four of five hours?"

"We could ride Filo," I suggested. "There are carriages we could rent for 10 silvers to get there." I pointed to a stall selling carriages and filolial harnesses. Naofumi walked over. "Hey, can we rent one of your carriages? Just until tomorrow." The stall operator nodded and Naofumi tossed him the coins. "Filo, come get in the harness." Filo's feet made clacking noises against the stone of the road. Naofumi mounted the harness. I jumped in and helped Raphtalia up. "Let's go!" I said. Filo started running. "Woah!"

The speed was fast. In what would be a four hour trip, we were going to make it there in one hour. We burst out of the town gate, and others walking in stared as we shot past them. "Woohoo!" I hadn't even been on a carriage this fast before. The bumpy road seemed almost smooth at this speed. "Filo, go faster!" I cheered. The bird sped up. "This can't be good for the carriage," Naofumi said as his cloak fluttered. "This carriage is meant for horseback, and now we're going 35 kilometers per hour." He muttered. "What's horseback?" Raphtalia asked. "It's nothing." I eyed him, then focused on the carriage. It was sturdy, but I doubt it was meant for high speed like this. "You might be right, but it's a sturdy rental. If we need to, we can slow down." I said. "No! Filo doesn't want to slow down!" Filo squawked. "You can talk in bird form?" Naofumi asked. "Yup!"

I'm going to lay down and this bird will make some sense, hopefully. I laid down on the bench and closed my eyes. When I opened them again, Raphtalia was shaking me awake. "We're almost there." I sat up. We were traveling down the road at a brisk pace. Filo seemed to be tired out. "Master, I want food when we get there."

"You'll get it soon enough." I noticed a blonde head of hair down the road. I tapped Raphtalia on the shoulder and pointed. "There he is, the new lord of Riyuute, Pervert-sama," I said. Naofumi caught the dripping sarcasm from my voice and drank it in. "Pervert-Sama. All must bow in his presence as he gloats." Me and Naofumi shared a smirk. The carriage drew closer.

"Can it be any hotter?" Motoyasu-bou said. The afternoon sun was beating down and it seemed to have made an effect on them. "Ah, Lord Pervert-sama!" I mockingly bowed. The group turned around "Are you mocking Motoyasu-sama?" Red-Hair questioned. "Maybe I am, maybe I'm not. What can we do for the ever glorious Pervert-sama?" The whole carriage grinned as the group behind us grumbled. "Can you give us a ride?" Hah. As if. "Ah, stupid, naive, little Motoyasu-bou. Of course, we wo-" Filo interrupted. "I can take them there!" No! Filo, you're ruining my amusement! Bad filolial! Filo waited for the group to come near her. "Here goes!" She reared her foot back and kicked Motoyasu-bou. "Aaaaah!" He screamed. "What in the world are you doing to Motoyasu-sama you filthy animal!?" Red-Hair screeched. She was united with her Motoyasu-sama in the forest west of the town. I doubled over laughing.

"Who's next?" Filo chirped. The rest of the girls in Motoyasu-bou's party shook their heads and started running down the road. "Oh well." Filo chirped. Good filolial. You've made me proud, Filo. "We should continue to Riyuute," Naofumi said.

We entered the village. "Ah! Shield Hero-sama! You've returned just in time!" A villager shouted. He guided us to the town center, where Motoyasu-bou was speaking. "As new lord, to help in the reconstruction I will levy a toll of 50 silvers to enter and exit the town." Villagers standing around gasped. "Do you know how much it is to stay at the inn for one night?" Naofumi questioned. He had jumped off the carriage and was standing beside it. "1 silver a night. You are charging 100 nights in the inn to enter and exit the town. Does that not sound ridiculous?" The villagers around cheered in agreement. "The Spear Hero knows nothing of us!" "The Shield Hero saved us, not the spear!" The villagers shouted. Red-Hair stepped forward. "How dare you all disrespect your new Lord! Be ashamed!" One of the men stepped forward. "We are ashamed that this fool is our new Lord!" The rest of the village cheered and repeated the sentence. "Silence!" Red-Hair screamed. I swear her voice could break my ears.

"You are all insolent fools for listening to the Shield Demon!" Red-Hair declared. Motoyasu-bou stepped in. "Now, now Myne. You're angering them." He said. Ah, so that's her name. I still am calling her Red-Hair though. "Naofumi, If you think you can rule this town better than me, duel me." He scoffed. "Look how that went last time. You were losing, then cheated, then said you weren't and you're challenging me again? Don't waste my time." Motoyasu-bou stepped forwards, bolder, then held his side. Good work, Filo. "Then have one of your companions duel mine. The winner's side will rule the village." Oooh. Interesting. "I'll do it." I stepped out of the carriage and drew the hood of my cloak back. "I will duel Red-Hair, or whatever her name is. I don't really care." Red-Hair ran to the edge of the stage. "Oh yeah? Duel me you filthy piece of trash! Motoyasu-bou doesn't deserve the punishment of being in a Demi-human's presence!" Motoyasu held the girl back from fighting me then and there.

"Come duel me in the morning. Make it interesting." I walked away smiling.

Split

"Are you sure you should do this?" Raphtalia asked me. She had been worrying since I challenged Red-Hair. "You don't have to." I waved Raphtalia off. "I'm the one who should be worrying over their sister. You know I'm the Big sister."

"Hey! We're twins! That can't be possible!"

"Mom said I came out first."

"We came out the same time!"

I laughed as Raphtalia flushed. Her brain wasn't used to thinking like this, about babies and things. A horn sounded, my cue to go. "See you after I embarrass this woman. She'll be wearing a paper bag wherever she goes." I waved goodbye and stepped outside. The tents had been set up on opposite sides of a marked arena. This was my first duel since the last owner. I shuddered thinking about him.

"The duel between Malty Melromarc and Ariete begins in 10! 9! 8! 7…" I rested my left hand on my bracelet. The stone shone as bright as ever. "Begin!" Red-Hair immediately shot forwards. She was going to thrust her rapier. A mistake. I parried and dashed left. I started chanting. "Tsuvait Firebolt!" Red Hair started to run away, probably trying to outrun an arrow of flames. Too bad I was faster. I leapt forwards and slashed out with the Firebolt. The flames hit exactly where I wanted. Her hair. "Eeeek!" My ears instinctively flattened themselves at the noise she made. How high did her pitch go? She glared at me. I saw locks of her hair fall to the ground. "Welcome to Ariete's beauty salon. Our special secret? Fire." I taunted. She moved forwards again, slashing and stabbing. I blocked the attacks with my dagger. A little slant added to my blade, and there we are. She's wide open. I kicked out. She dodged my kick by stumbling backward.

Into a shield of flames. "What!?" She screamed as the ends of her hair were singed and burnt off. "When did you-" She didn't finish her sentence, as I struck out. She blocked most of my blows. A good rapier user, Her. With a little acrobatics, I increased the distance between us. "Now it's time for my finisher."

She shot through the distance between us and started attacking. I blocked and dodged every thrust and slash. She tried to use plain old brawling moves like weak kicks to try and get me off guard, but I dodged. She thrust once more and I let her rapier scrape on my dagger. "You see, there's a reason we call it Fast magic." I cackled as she felt the warm sensation on her face. I backed up with a somersault and watched as she pawed at her eyebrows. The whole audience broke out in laughter as her hand dropped. Her face was free from eyebrows. "Thank you for choosing us for your hair removal. Please, come again in the future." I did a mock bow and everyone laughed again.

I didn't get a warning as her rapier appeared less than a meter from my face. I managed to deflect the blow, but she came at me with another slash. I leaned back and let the blade pass over me. She put too much weight into it. She started to fall on top of me, and I kicked out. My feet met her back, and she was launched into the air. "Tzuvait Firestream!" A ball of flame coalesced in my hand and I shot it out. Red-Hair landed whimpering as I held my dagger at her neck. "You know, your hair looks real nice when half of it is gone. The whole audience laughed with me as we viewed the sight of a Half-bald princess.

Split

"Wow, Ariete. You were ruthless." Naofumi patted me on the head. "Ah yes, praise me more!" I purred. Naofumi's face contorted and he withdrew his head. I pouted. "When you say it like that it makes me feel like an old Motoyasu." I chuckled. Raphtalia was in another corner, also pouting, "I don't get praise like this." I snuck behind her. "Y'know you could get praise for these." I snaked my arms under hers. "Ah! A-Ariete! Don't touch- Ah! Stop!" I withdrew my hands from her chest and she covered them up. "Aw, Naofumi was enjoying the view, right?"

Naofumi scratched the back of his head and stared at the roof of the tent. "Well, uh… um…" He didn't get a complete answer out before someone came inside. "Ah! Shield Hero! We must thank your companion!" The lord bowed in front of me. "Ah, It's nothing, I got paid in the form of seeing that woman with half of her hair gone." The lord chuckled. "Is there anything we could do for you? We can't afford to give you payment immediately, but we could scrape something together." Naofumi shook his head. "Actually, a carriage would be nice." The lord quirked his head. "Don't you already have one?" "Ah, no. That was a rental we used to ferry ourselves here to deal with the fake lord." I explained. The lord nodded. "I'll get to it right away."

At the end of the day, we were presented with a fancy new carriage. The wood came from the surrounding forest. It was strong lumber and would take the force of Filo running as full speed. "We should go and drop off the rental and then come back for the new carriage," Naofumi said. "Wait, Shield Hero!" The Lord called out. He held a gold plate in his hands. "Here. This is a trader's pass. It will let you pass through any toll in Melromarc without paying." Naofumi looked at the pass. "Thank you." He said. He then hopped onto the rental carriage. "I'll bring this back. You two wait here. If it gets dark, rent an Inn room." Naofumi dashed off with Filo.

**A/N: And there we go. Final daily chapter. I meant to get this out earlier in the day, but life happened. I tried to make this chapter lighthearted, to balance out the unintended grim tone of the Interlude. It was entirely meant to be fluff then turned into a flashback where Ariete murders her friends. Weird how that happens. I played around with the metaphors in this chapter too.**

**Azentra: It will hopefully make sense soon in upcoming chapters. I will be doing lots of interesting things with Filo soon.**

**Hawa-Chan: Oh, I hadn't seen the resemblance before! That's a chuckle.**

**Come back Wednesday and See Filo kick more people, Ariete be a badass, Raphtalia also be a badass, and Naofumi watch the chaos. Bye-bye!**


	11. Chapter 10

**A/N: And here goes the next part of the Filo Arc. I will be following the Anime's version of this part of the story, so no woodworking for Naofumi. I will be including Lines here and there from the WN. Also, Filo won't be getting her clothes for another chapter. Check out the new Omake at the bottom! That's it for the Author's note, so bye-bye!**

As we traveled back to Castle Town, we found a man's running along the road. He seems quite tired and sweat soaked through his undershirt, leaving stains. "Hello? Do you need any help?" Raphtalia asked. She had gotten used to directing the carriage. "Please, let me ride on your carriage! I need to get this medicine to the village down the road to the left." I peeked up from the book I was reading. The magic lady had given us interesting spell books, and I was taking any minute I could to learn the new spells. Naofumi poked his head out.

"We'll take you there for a silver." The man drooped his head. "I spent all my money on this medicine. My mother needs it…"

"You can pay when we get there or in goods." Naofumi helped the man onto the carriage and took the reins from Raphtalia. "Let's go." The carriage creaked as Filo ran at breakneck speed. In a few minutes, we were deposited at the village. Filo waited outside while Raphtalia, Naofumi and I followed the man in. "Go prepare the water. I'll give her the medicine." The man left and the three of us stood there. It was kind of awkward, standing by someone's sick mother.

Naofumi cast a spell and the potion shined a bright yellow through the glass container it was held in. He tilted the bottle and a thin stream flowed into the woman's mouth. An aura shined around the elderly woman and she opened her eyes fully. She sat up. "Thank you, trader. The pain has completely escaped from my body." The man came into the room holding a steaming teapot. "M-Mother? You shouldn't be sitting up already!" He rushed to set the steeping tea on the nightstand and then rushed to his mother's side.

"Thank you. You're a savior." Naofumi waved his gratitude off. "This should be about one silver." I glanced into the satchel. It was full of fruit. "He accepts your gratitude, yet he isn't a good enough human being to care for it," I explained. "Hey, don't make me sound like a bad guy!" Naofumi protested. I giggled and the man looked between us.

We left the town. Naofumi seemed to be thinking hard about something. He was in his thinking position, hunched down with one hand on the side of his head and the other on his leg. I shrugged it off and continued reading the spell book. I'd have to test some of these darkness spells later.

The rest of the ride was uneventful, and we returned to Oyami's shop. "It's about time to upgrade our equipment," Naofumi said. I browsed through daggers and knives while Raphtalia looked at a magic iron sword. I gripped one of them. It was short, a little shorter than my forearm. I tried a quick few moves with it. A slash, a stab, reverse your grip, and slice. My imaginary target was now in five pieces. "This will work well." I spun the blue handle around in my hand. The price tag said 30 silvers. "Is it only me or is everything in this shop more expensive than me and Raphtalia?" I grumbled.

Raphtalia had done a few practice swings with her sword. I glanced into Oyami's backroom and saw a few practice weapons. "Mind if I take a look at those?" I pointed to the wooden weapons. He shook his head and gestured me to play with them. I picked up a practice rondel. "Good for blocking and stabbing," I said in a low imitation of my previous master's voice. I saw him standing in front of me.

"Remember to aim for the neck." He said. I stabbed down, then blocked his cane. He lashed out with his cane and swung. I blocked and twisted my blade around his wrist, cutting it open. He dropped his cane and I rushed forward. His other hand swung out with a whip, but I blocked his arm and held it. I stabbed him in the neck. I growled as my imagination flickered off and I stood there breathing hard. I glanced at the doorway where Naofumi stood. He nodded approvingly. "You should spar with your sister." I stepped back and brought my practice rondel up. "You'll be using the practice weapons, and stop-start rules." I relaxed. He gestured me out.

We exited into the back alleyway. I spun the rondel in my hand. Naofumi has banned magic for this round, so I wouldn't be able to cast a fire spell this time. I tittered at the mental image of the bald princess. I readied my stance, spreading my legs. Raphtalia kept a foot forward, poised to slash from above. I could deflect, then slide around.

"Begin!" Naofumi shouted. As I predicted, Raphtalia came in for an overhead slash. I used my wooden blade to deflect the blow and then slide to her flank. I tried to stab, but she sidestepped. I jumped instinctively and watched her wooden sword pass under my feet. I ducked as she tried to hit my shoulder. I hopped forward, bringing the rondel down.

Raphtalia stepped back to avoid my hit. She prepared to do another overhead slash. I sidestepped and thrust forward. A clack sounded out as our weapons met. I twisted my wrist and pulled. She was now pinned in an armlock. I wrapped my arm around hers and then stabbed my blade into her neck. Easy.

Wait, why didn't I feel any resistance? I looked down and found Raphtalia in the process of flipping over, and my arm was extended, leaving me open. She managed to slip out of my armlock. I tried to leap back, but her sword came down. I felt it tap my shoulder.

"Aw, I was so close!" I whined. Raphtalia cheered. I kept my head low. Raphtalia bragged to Filo when we returned to the cart. I slumped into the bench. I wasn't too bothered by the loss, I was bothered by myself. I should've done better. I couldn't keep protecting Raphtalia if I was like this. I distracted myself from my thoughts with a book.

We spent the next few days gathering more herbs, training on the forest creatures, and making money. We sold the potions around towns and delivered people from one place to another. Our pockets steadily filled.

"To think I would be riding in the carriage of the Traveling Bird Saint!" The merchant rejoiced. I snickered as he told the tale for a heroic saint. The hero persona seemed to tick Naofumi off. "I'm no saint. I sell my medicine, help out when people pay me and make money." The merchant beamed. "So humble!"

I stopped eavesdropping and returned to reading my book. The dark magic spells were very interesting. I'll try them next time I get the chance. Raphtalia spoke out. "Naofumi, there are people ahead blocking the path. Naofumi and I poked our heads out. A group of highwaymen stood there brandishing clubs, knives, and swords. One had a cloak and mask on his head and face. He was probably the most dangerous one in the group.

"Stop right there!" Raphtalia pulled on the reins and Filo stopped. "That's a nice looking bird there. I've also heard you got a wee little accessory dealer in there." The trader we were with flinched. "Hand him over." They said. I glanced between the bandits and the trader. Naofumi muttered something and stepped forward. "So you'll be taking everything from us but our lives?" One of the bandits, a fat, burly one snapped his fingers. "There's a sharp one. Those two girls seem nice too, looks like we'll have some fun tonight." Raphtalia asked before I could. "May I cut them down, Naofumi-san?" I flicked my sister in the back gently. "Say it with flavor. Listen and learn." I cleared my voice. "Can we please go and make sure none of these men have children? It looks like they need a reduction in the number of balls they have." I looked up at Naofumi with puppy-dog eyes. He grinned.

"Not like either of you would listen if I said no." I drew my dagger. The carriage was right behind us, and as much as I'd like to make sure these men all get special service from Ariete's Beauty Salon, it can wait. We should make these men beg for their mothers first. Filo joined in. "I wanna fight too!" The bandits all laughed. "Don't bother. We got ourselves a class upgraded friend right here." He gestured for a man with a katana to step forward. Scars littered his body. This man has experience.

I stepped off the carriage with Naofumi and Raphtalia. Raphtalia started to chant. I moved into the shade and started as well. "As the source of thy power, I order thee. Decipher the laws of nature and conceal me in the darkness. Shadow Mirage!" Both mine and Raphtalia's spells dissolved our bodies into their respective forms. Me into the shadows where I stood, and Raphtalia into the light.

The Bandits gasped. "Fast Tornado!" Filo shouted. A cone of wind spun the Bandits up. I tied rope around one man's arm and let him spin in the wind. I tied off the bond at the back and cut the rope with my new dagger. I repeated the process for all the bandits. Filo stopped the wind and let all the bandits tumble into a pile.

"W-We were hired by another trader to mug this dealer! He let us know where you were!" The accessory dealer sighed. "One of my own sold me out, huh?" Naofumi walked up beside me. "What do we do with these people?" The trader looked back at him "Usually, we'd hand them over to the guards." I shook my head. "That's not gonna work. These people already know you're the Shield Hero." I said. Naofumi scowled. "You're just going to run to the guards and say, 'Help me! I'm being attacked by the Shield Demon.' Aren't you?" The bandits chuckled. "Yup. Who'd believe the Shield Demon?" I smirked. "Oh well, we'll just have to deal with you another way. Filo, lunchtime!" Me and Naofumi said in sync. Filo walked up to the men. "Yay! Food!" Before we could interrupt, she already plucked one of the bandits up. He was currently struggling to get out of Filo's beak. I laughed as Naofumi shouted. "Put him down Filo! I'm going to cut these men a deal." Awww. I want to see Filo devouring these bandits though! "Lead us to your base. You give us all your loot, and I may spare your lives. Maybe." I grinned at the "Maybe" in that conversation.

The bandits led us to a well-hidden lair. A cave in a canyon. Not many would come here. They were loading boxes of food, materials, jewels, weapons and other things onto the carriage. It squeaked under the weight. "The Bird Saint is a gleaming example of the trader spirit that is so rare these days!" I rolled my eyes. Some people.

**A/N: And that wraps it up. I did a lot of research on dagger and sword fighting these past few days. Thanks to the Modern Rogue YouTube channel for providing a dagger skills video. I also have been thinking a lot more about Ariete and Raphtalia's relationship. It's friendly for now, but won't always stay that way. You'll see. **

**Azentra: I also felt the race was kinda dumb. Like, it's a chicken vs dragon. Why didn't Motoyasu just fly? Burning off eyebrows however, that's a better way to resolve your differences.**

**Now onto the Omake!**

Omake 4: Dreams

I sat up, eyes blurry from tears. Another dream. I felt my heart clench as I remembered what it was about. I wiped my face on the blanket and looked around. Filo was sleeping on a different bed, and she had transformed in her sleep again. Raphtalia was shaking the bed. I looked at her. She was curled up, tears leaking from her eyes. Her face was filled with an emotion I rarely saw. Fear.

I wrapped my arms around her and whispered into her ear. "It's okay. Ariete's here. Nee-San is right here to protect you." Her face softened a little and I felt her muscles relax. I had done my job.

**Next chapter, we get to see Filo getting clothes, Ariete getting through past demons and more!**


	12. Chapter 11

**A/N: It's now Friday! I want to thank all y'all for over 50 follows and 46 favorites! It means a lot to have a following. I put extra work in this chapter for you. **

**I'll also say if you provide beta services, then if you want you can PM me about working on this fic. It's gained enough of a following for me to not want to trust only Grammarly for grammar checking.**

**That's it for the author's note! Enjoy!**

"That money grabbing dimwit gave you this?" I snorted. Naofumi nodded. "It's genuine. What gems do ya need?" The man closed the paper deed. "The gemstone for making magic thread," Naofumi said. The man sighed. "That's a challenge. We can't mine it, but I do know a place where you could get it." He handed us a map. "We'll have to grab the lady from the magic store. We might need extra firepower and a guide on this mission." I turned my head towards him. "Am I not good enough?" I asked.

"You're not enough on your own." I mimed a knife stabbing me in the chest. "Ah, your words strike me like an arrow through my heart," I mocked. Naofumi rolled his eyes and grinned. Raphtalia took a second longer to catch on, and she suppressed a giggle. "Let's go." Naofumi started walking back to Filo. Raphtalia and I followed him and got on the carriage. Raphtalia pulled the reins and Filo started padding along.

I pulled out the spellbook. I had already read it twice in the previous weeks, but the words were interesting. I knew what would come next, but it still interested me to find some detail I missed before. Naofumi glanced at me. "I've seen you reading that book for two weeks now. Even if you read slow, you should have finished it by now." I closed the book and set it in my lap. "This is my third re-read," I said. I propped the book back open and started feeding the words into my eyes once more. Naofumi quirked an eyebrow in the edge of my vision, then went back to counting coins.

We arrived in Castle Town and proceeded to die. Nope, just kidding, we went to the magic shop. If you fell for that, your loss, my amusement. The lady clapped her hands in excitement at our news. "Ah! I know that place!" She grabbed a bag from underneath her desk. "Let's go!" She started gesturing for us to leave.

Filo started marching out of town. The carriage rattled and squeaked along. I was helping Naofumi with reading his book. The woman smiled at us.

"Naofumi," Raphtalia called. I peered out of the carriage. We were deep into a canyon. A large door stood. "There used to be an alchemist here. They say he went insane and locked himself up inside a tomb. This is it." The woman explained. Naofumi took the harness off Filo. "You're coming with us." We entered. I lit Raphtalia's torch and held a candle-like flame in my hand. The lady seemed satisfied with lingering around our light, as she didn't cast any spells.

We moved into a large open room. A chest was sitting open inside the center of the room. It was empty. The woman stepped forwards. "Ancient text." She ran her fingers on a stone tablet. It was engraved with foreign symbols. "It reads: 'To those who come here: Do not break this seal. The seed within here is our foolish attempts to end the famine.'"

"Someone's already been here, then," Naofumi concluded. He looked around. Let's go down this way. "I wonder if the dungeon monsters are tasty…" I glanced at the gluttonous bird. It was behind us. Filo's eyes seemed to widen and she looked at Naofumi in shock. "Waaah! Don't leave me, Master!" She barrels into Naofumi, burying him in her feathers. The bird got off after a muffled order from Naofumi. He dusted himself off.

"You did it, didn't you?" I froze. "You killed her. You killed my best friend, right?" I snapped my head to the source of the voice. Raphtalia stood with a glint in her eye. "I-It was self-defense!" I shouted. Naofumi turned towards me. "You killed your best friend. You disgust me." He glanced away. I backed away. "I'll deliver payback to you. This is payback, sister." Raphtalia growled. I screamed.

Raphtalia sword made a cut across my shoulder. I didn't react to the pain. I crouched. I could hear the voices. It was your fault. You killed her. I covered my ears as Kiel's voice rang out. She was my friend. You took her away. I shut my eyes. It was your fault. I screamed as the chorus of voices got louder. We're disappointed in you.

My eyes shot open. "Mom? Dad?" I whispered. Yes. We're here. And we're disappointed in you. You killed Raphtalia's friend. You murdered her. I backed myself into the wall and slumped down. I wrapped myself into a ball and screamed.

I heard a shout and felt vibrations under my feet. I felt my throat vibrating. I realized the scream I was hearing was my own. It changed from howls to sobs. I felt a warm object wrap itself around me. I opened my eyes to blurry vision. Tears. I recognized the shape. "No!" I yelled. I keeled onto my side and continued sobbing into my legs. A different object hugged me. I was about to run, but I saw a glimpse of green. I wrapped my arms around the warm figure and cried.

"Shhh. It's okay." Naofumi soothed. I felt his warm hand rubbing my head. I held tight onto him. I babbled into his shoulder.

* * *

Naofumi watched as the normally composed, joking and light-hearted girl in front of him sobbed and mumbled into his shoulder. "The voices. The voices. The voices." She whispered. He kept soothing her by rubbing her head. Raphtalia approached him from behind. He felt the girl holding him tight flinched at the sight of her sister.

What could've she heard in the- oh. Oh. That makes sense, He thought. He remembered the emotional Ferris wheel ride he had with Ariete. Naofumi kept rubbing the girl's head and then spoke into one of her ears. "It wasn't your fault," Naofumi said. She sobbed harder into his chest.

Eventually, she drew away from him. His undershirt was now wet with tears, but he had more pressing concerns on his mind. Namely, what the hell did she hear in there?

* * *

I moved away from Naofumi. His shirt was stained with tears. "I'm sorry." I apologized. Naofumi wiped a tear from my eye. "What did you hear in there? Are you okay with sharing?" I glanced up and saw Raphtalia standing behind him. She seemed shaken too but also concerned for me. I shook my head and wiped my face with my sleeve. "Let's go," I said. Naofumi was going to say something, but I glared at him and shut him up with a finger.

We traveled further into the base. I avoided Raphtalia. If I got within conversation distance, questions would be asked. Questions leading to truths. Truths leading to distrust and so forth. Raphtalia walked up to try and talk to me, and I moved to the right towards Naofumi. She shot me a pleading look. I ignored it. The walls started to get less uniform and we ended up walking into a cave. Complete with a pointy ceiling, water drips and giant man-eating half lion, half snake creatures. Wait, something seems wrong with that last one.

"Hyaah!" Filo jumped over us and charged. "No, wait! That's a nue!" The woman yelled. The creature turned towards the sound and lunged. "Filo!" Raphtalia yelled. She ran in to support. "Oh, what the hell." I sighed and rushed in. Naofumi followed me.

Filo pecked the lion in the side. It moved away. Seriously Filo? You could do so much better.

The nue's entire side exploded into gore and it roared. Okay, Filo, I take that back. Naofumi rushed in to block a slash from the nue's claws. The snake wrapped around and bit him in the shoulder. "Naofumi!" I yelled. I rushed in and sliced the snake's head off. I eased it out of Naofumi's shoulder, and then I had an idea.

"Naofumi! Step to the side!" Filo had already retreated, so Naofumi slid left. The Lion landed on its front paws. It struck at Naofumi again. Naofumi blocked with his shield. I leapt forwards and stepped on the back of the nue. Its hind legs were forced down. I twisted and stabbed the fangs of the snakehead in my hand into the neck of the nue.

It howled and I saw the veins in its neck go green. My idea worked.

"Get back, It'll get more aggressive!" I yelled. I retreated back. Filo dragged Naofumi away. Sparks traveled outward as the nue howled in pain. I saw a splotch of brown disappear behind the nue. Raphtalia! I ran in. The nue was writhing in pain. I saw it go still for a moment, then lash out with its claws. I heard the blade of my dagger make a tink sound as it met claws. Raphtalia reappeared next to me. She sliced up and severed a paw aimed at her. Raphtalia spun around and made another slash at the nue's belly, then jumped. The nue was falling from the roar position. She thrust and her blade passed through like it was jelly. She landed and wiped her blade off.

"These materials will make nice money," Naofumi said. He had already absorbed a claw and some fur into his shield. His new shield had a lion's head on it roaring. It slashed its claws out. Intimidating.

We explored for a few more minutes, then found the stone. It was a deep red, like my bracelet. I spun the accessory around my wrist. "Let's go back now. We got what we came for." Naofumi said. "No objections here." I joined Filo in staring at the back of Naofumi's head.

We headed back to the woman's shop in Castle Town. Naofumi cut the stone into the right shape. He said that he learned it from the trader. Filo sat there spinning the thread. "This is making me tired." She complained. I leaned against the wall. It was boring waiting here. I need to go murder something or train on a dummy. It'd calm my mind a little.

"You'll get a snack after you're done." The woman said. Filo's eyes lit up. "Yay! A yummy snack!" I rolled my eyes at the gluttony of our youngest member. She was only a few weeks old, so she probably is the youngest being to murder multiple beings ruthlessly under the guise of being hungry.

We took the thread to the dress weaver from the festival. She took Filo's measurements. The fact that Filo was naked didn't seem to bother her. I wonder how often she does naked measurements.

We came later to see the dress. The dress was white with blue trim. Frills lined the bottom of the dress, and a blue ribbon was attached to the front. It had small slits for the wings Filo had in her human form. "It's adorable!" The weaver and Raphtalia cooed at the same time. Filo spun around. "Does this make Master see me as a woman?" I had to stifle a laugh. "No. You're my slave." He said coldly. I frowned. Naofumi not playing along? "What about Raphtalia and Ariete?" I raised an eyebrow. "They're like my daughters." I chortled as Raphtalia started protesting. "No, I'm not! That'd be weird because then my-" I stopped trying to hide my laughter as she realized what she was saying. "Please, go on!" I said between laughs. She flushed and hid behind me.

I pulled her in front of me and shoved her. "That's for the changing room incident." She found herself hugging Naofumi. After almost confessing to him. I started to laugh again as she backed away and started mumbling a collection of apologies and denials. I must say, I am satisfied with my care. And by care, I mean endless laughing to the point of choking.

**Yes, that is a Big Hero 6 reference at the end. This chapter finally gives Filo clothing (Yay!) and also sets up a small conflict. I don't know if you spotted it, but it's there. It's not too subtle. I've decided I might divide this fic into two, as my plans include 6 arcs. I'll be dividing them into two, three arcs in this one and three arcs in the next. At least that's the plan. **

**Azentra: Ah, sorry about the mistake with the dragon. I'm not a person who remembers details well. Probably something I should work on. I did feel like Raphtalia should be the better sword fighter. After all, Ariete's dagger skills are just for backup. I do think despite that, Ariete prefers the dagger and likes being up close. She may be good at magic, but her heart tells her to be a brawler. I might be encouraging that in the future. You'll see what I mean about the unfriendliness. You are however completely correct. Raphtalia does want to protect Ariete too. **

**Next time, join us for apple picking, dragon slaying, and flaming shields!**


	13. Chapter 12

**A/N: And here we are again. With 50 favorites! Yay! Milestones! Woo!**

**It's cleanup duty for the squad today. Also Omake day! Also, remember to send a PM if you're up to beta this story. I'm searching! I've listed the very few guidelines I have for betas in the bottom A/N.**

**That's it for the Author's Note! Enjoy!**

Today was supposed to be normal. Talk to the trader, deliver herbicide, and then be done. We didn't ask to be pulled into an agricultural crisis. Ugh.

"This is Pervert-san's fault!" I screeched. Naofumi yelled something similar. I cut through the thick vines. "Hey, they're paying us at least!" I yelled back. "Yeah! Lots of money for Filo's food!" Filo chirped. I slashed through more plant matter. We made it into an alley mostly clear of vines. "This has to be the only place in this entire village without vines in it," Naofumi muttered.

We walked through the alley and found - surprise! - more vines! Raphtalia tapped me on the shoulder. She pointed to a boy. Vines were growing off his skin. "He looks like he's a bit under the weather." Naofumi glanced at me, then followed my eyes to the boy. "Oh great, it's parasitic too?" He pulled out a bottle of herbicide and a healing potion. They both glowed in his hand and he poured them both into the boy's mouth. The vines shriveled and fell off his skin.

"Have you got any money?" I snorted as Naofumi indulged in greed. "Naofumi-san!" Raphtalia scolded. I heard slithering and snapped my head around. Vines were moving. "Oh, come on!" I slashed at one with my dagger. I would burn the whole tree to the ground, but I doubt the villagers would appreciate their village being able turned to ash. Raphtalia rushed forward. "Don't go ahead!" Naofumi shouted. He brought up his shield. Raphtalia slashed through a group of vines trying to attack our legs. A flower bloomed and then exploded in Raphtalia's face. "Raphtalia!" I rushed up and slashed at the plants. Raphtalia coughed. A pink gas floated around her face for a second, then dispersed "You okay?" I asked. "Yes, I'm okay."

"Master! Look, a big tree!" Filo pointed with one of her wings. A large, twisted imitation of a tree with a large flower stood in the middle of a plaza. All the vines seemed to come out from it. The flower had a disgusting eye poking out of it. "Eyesore, much?" I said to no one. As if the plant responded, multiple flowers bloomed. "Aw, come on! It was a joke!"

They blasted purple poison at us. Naofumi blocked with a shield ladened with vipers. Raphtalia rushed in and sliced the plant into four pieces. I kicked away an advancing vine and slashed out. "I've got a clear shot to the tree!" I shouted. Naofumi gave me a thumbs up. "Cover me!" I retreated back and started to chant. Filo stepped in and started crushing vines. "Fire Zweite!" I yelled. The shout collected the small flames on my fingers into a beam and fired it. I moved my hands to aim the flames at the tree. "Direct Hit!" I shouted. The central tree burst into flames. I cheered and the vines started to twitch. 

"It's over!" Raphtalia kept a ready stance but was also cheering. "Yay!" Filo chirped. I then heard more slithering. I looked back towards the tree. Multiple vines were rising into the air. Flowers bloomed around the tree and spit poison. The flames weakened. "Oh come on! I nearly burned a shop down with that before!" I sighed and drew my dagged back out. "Let's go!" Filo jumped up. Raphtalia rushed in. I followed suit.

A slash left, a slice right, jump, turn and land. "Filo!" The bird swooped by and I grabbed on. I planted myself into Filo's feathers. "Woah, how deep do these go, Filo?" I asked. She did the equivalent of a grin.

"To the eye!" I looked at the trunk, the charred bits being replaced with new green vines. Filo kicked away the vines to make a path. She jumped off a green shield (Thanks, Naofumi) and twisted. My planted feet barely budged from their spot deep in Filo's feathers. They're really warm. I should try sleeping in here…

"Filo, Now!" I leapt off the bird and changed my direction to downwards. I spread out my limbs. A wave of wind sent me flying forwards. "Woohoo!" I yelled. I readied my feet and aimed my dagger. I heard a squelching sound as the blade went straight into the eye. I jumped off the squishy eye as it exploded into purple gas. "Raphtalia, the herbicide!" My sister rushed in under me. I landed as I heard the hissing of herbicide coming in contact with the herbs. "It's done now, right?" I glanced up. The eye had regrown. "Come on! That was so cool and everything!" I pouted and slouched my shoulders. "Filo!" Raphtalia called. She got onto the fat bird and began to head for the eye the same way I did. She held a purple bottle in her hand. She flipped off of Filo and poured the herbicide into the eye. It hissed, then exploded. That purple gas can't be good. "Raphtalia!" I yelled. She had been caught by vines. I dashed up, using vines as stepping stones. I cut one of the vines holding Raphtalia. Now just another one.

I used the eye as a springboard to launch myself back. It made a surprisingly good trampoline. I aimed my dagger out, but it was blocked by another vine. Two more wrapped themselves around my legs, followed by my arms. "Damn it!" Naofumi was still standing in the distance. He started strolling like he was going down a town street. "Don't come closer, Naofumi-san!" Raphtalia yelled. Naofumi continued forward. Vines wrapped him up like a present. "Idiot," I muttered. The vines started to glow green and dissolve.

"I take that back. Teach me, I want to be that cool." I pouted. The vines melted from his body like they were snow touching a hot iron. I was supposed to be the one that made people tremble with respect! Hmph. He walked up to one of the roots and held out one of the bottles of herbicide. It started to glow, and he poured the bottle onto the root. It started to shrivel up and dissolve. Vines reached out but turned to thin, dry sticks. "Get out of there!" The vines around me became weak. They broke with little resistance. I slashed at the ones on my legs. I landed just in time to see the eye turn red and then explode. Eww. I retreated back with my sister as the tree started to collapse.

We returned to the walled portion of the village. They gave us a hefty sum of money as a reward, and then bought the rest of the herbicide. "We should go back and collect the seeds," Naofumi said. I nodded. If they re-grew, well I'd rather not fight plants with eyes again. We headed back out with a group of villagers and started collecting fruit. I filled a basket as Raphtalia and Filo started bickering. "Does Big sister Ariete need to come and solve a problem?" I called. Filo nodded vigorously. "Big sister? We're twins! And no, we don't need help!" I laughed as they went back to arguing. I saw Naofumi with a new shield. I put the basket of seeds and checked out what he was doing. "What're you doing, Naofumi-san?"

He tossed three seeds on the ground. "Wait, what?" They grew into a tree. I reached for my dagger, but the tree started to collapse and die. "I got a new ability. It's called Plant modification." I glanced at him. He shrugged.

We headed back to the carriage. It was full of seeds. "Let's stay the night. It's getting too dark to return to Castle Town." We rented a room in the inn. Filo flopped onto the bed. "You three sleep. I've got to go work on something in the carriage." Naofumi said. Raphtalia seemed too tired to argue and flopped onto the other bed. "Whatever," I said and joined the other two in sleeping.

We rose the next morning. Naofumi wasn't in his bed. Raphtalia went out to check on him. "Wake up you sleepy glutton of a bird." Filo transformed in her sleep again. I reached deep into her feathers. I mean, it wouldn't hurt to try, right? I stripped down to a shirt and panties, then climbed in. "Woah, so soft, so warm!" I whispered to myself. I snuggled into Filo's feathers. So this is why she's so sleepy. Huh. My eyelids seem to be drooping. Oh well…

"Ariete! Filo! What are you doing?" I jolted awake. Raphtalia was currently shaking me awake. I felt Naofumi pushing Filo, rocking the bed as he did. "Yeah, yeah I'm gett- wait." I realized I was in my panties still. "Wait! Wait! No! I'm not-" I didn't finish my sentence as Filo made the floorboards creak. And left me undressed on the bed. Naofumi averted his eyes. "So, uh. How was your sle-" I cut him off with a pillow. A second one made him keel out the window. "Naofumi-san!" Raphtalia yelled. She rushed to the window. "He's alright. This is only the second floor." I reassured her. She still rushed outside to help Naofumi.

I dressed myself, then woke Filo by whispering the promise of food in her ear. She woke up and started asking me frantically about food. I laughed and told her to transform back to her human form. We went outside. I found Naofumi and Raphtalia by the carriage. Naofumi opened his mouth but I glared at him. He closed it. "So, where'd all this fruit come from?" I asked. The seeds had been replaced with baskets upon baskets of fruit.

"I modified some seeds. They produce more fruit, fewer monsters, and no murderous intent. The perfect crop. What you see here is our payment for saving the village." Ah, so we get unlimited food in exchange for saving the town. Good.

"Alright then, that's the last of it. Let's go." Naofumi hooked the harness onto Filo and took the reins. "I'll pilot. You two can relax."

I yawned. "More sleep for me, then" I then laid down on the bench.

The next day, we headed out to the forest. "Only a week left till the wave," I noted. We were stopped in a clearing eating lunch. Filo was devouring a whole bucket of fruit, I was having a sandwich, and the other two were having a couples date of water, crushed fruit sauce, and bread. I offered Raphtalia the sandwich, but she insisted on eating the same meal as Naofumi.

I finished my sandwich. I went back to the carriage for some water. Filo seemed to have passed out from eating half a basket of fruit. I put down the canteen and headed back to Naofumi and Raphtalia's spot by the river. I heard Raphtalia ask Naofumi a question

"Naofumi-san, do you have anyone in your world you like?" I snorted. "Huh?" Naofumi shifted.

"No, why? What's all this?"

"I was just wondering what you thought of me…"

"I just feel like I ask a lot from you, your sister and Filo. Anything else?"

Raphtalia stayed silent.

"I want to do what your parents didn't live long enough to do. You and Ariete have been through a lot, and you two are still children. I want to raise both of you right. You two are important to me, like daughters."

Raphtalia flushed. "What is that supposed to mean!? That's weird!" I sneaked up on my sister. "Checking up on your mate, eh?" Her face morphed from surprised to confused then flustered. "M-Mates? What!? N-No I-" I laughed as she spluttered denials. "Hey, just don't be too fast. I don't want to be an auntie just yet." Raphtalia turned a new shade of red I hadn't known existed and spluttered denials like a parrot.

Ah, I could get used to this.

**A/N: And there we are! End of Chapter 12. I lied, there aren't any dragons in this chapter, but I managed to make this long enough to stand on its own, so hooray for that! **

**Azentra: You are correct, On its own, it does not stand up. But there's more than one reason it develops. I have pushed that whole sub-conflict back, but it is going to come up soon. I promise that.**

**Zaphot: Thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying the fic so far!**

**And now onto the Omake!**

Omake 5: Ariete Dies

I flopped out my tongue and laid down on my belly. "Rifina, tell Kiel to get Raphtalia now!" I whisper-yelled. The dirt tasted bad, but the laughs were going to be worth it. "Ariete? Kiel said you wanted to show me some-" Her voice paused. I kept myself from smiling. "Ariete!" I felt her padding her way to me. "Ariete? Ariete, wake up!" I heard her yelling. I kept my tongue flopped out. "No, Ariete!" I felt her hugging me. A wet sensation let me know she was crying. "Boo!" I said. She squeaked. "No, Ariete turned into a zombie!" I laughed.

"Ariete!" She jumped at me. "I thought you were hurt…" I felt her tears. "Raphtalia, it's just a joke. I won't ever be hurt." Raphtalia looked up at me. "Are you sure?" She asked. I nodded. "Yeah. I won't ever get hurt, because it makes you sad. Okay?"

**Okay. Omake done. Now onto the guidelines for betas, since I'm not exactly an English expert.**

**Have a grasp of English.**

**Is familiar with Rising of The Shield Hero past the anime. It's okay to apply if you're an anime-only fan but beware of spoilers.**

**That's it! See you next time for actual dragons and flaming shields.**


	14. Chapter 13

**A/N: Sorry this came out so late in the day! I have a second fic I'm working on (with much longer chapters) in the background. I got carried away, and well here we are. **

**Enjoy this one!**

When we finally got Filo to stir, I heard crunching. I snapped my head around. Another crunch. Raphtalia noticed and bumped Naofumi in the shoulder.

I saw an elderly woman and a little kid emerge at the third crunch. I moved my hand away from my dagger and relaxed.

They made camp and told us of a village not far from here. The village was ravaged by disease. "If you go there, you'll surely perish." They warned. "Does the village happen to be named Eri?" I asked. The woman nodded. So it's the village we're going to. Naofumi heard from the trader that this village was buying any and all medicine.

"Alright, let's go," Naofumi said. Filo had woken up. Naofumi starched the harness and pulled on the reins. "Thanks for the information." He said to the old lady. She waved at us. Filo started to pull the carriage.

I closed my eyes and leaned against one of the timbers of the carriage. I rested there for a few minutes. "Raphtalia, can you take the reins?" I kept my eyes closed.

"Ariete." I opened my eyes. Naofumi was standing over me. "Here." He handed me a wrapped package. I took it in my hands. "What's this?" I asked. "A present. Open it. It's for you." He gestured to the package. I unwrapped the thin red ribbon and pulled back the plain brown paper. A book was inside. "It's a collection of stories. I found it inside a store in the village with plants." I smiled. "Thanks." I opened the book. It smelled like fresh paper.

In the little time I had before we reached the village, I devoured the book. The stories were interesting, the words capturing my attention like a cage. I grumbled as the wagon slowed to a stop.

"Wow. It's deserted." Naofumi said. I looked out, not a single soul was on the streets. An old man opened his door and peered out. "Who are you?" He questioned. Naofumi hopped off the carriage. "A traveling merchant. I received an order for medicine." The man mumbled as he started to piece together something in his mind.

"The Heavenly Fowl?" I snorted as he ran to the church. "Doctor! Our savior is here!" He started talking with a robed man. The old man pointed to us. I stepped off and waved. The robed man went back inside the church.

"The village cleric wants to meet with you in the church." I nodded. Raphtalia landed behind me with a plop. "Let's go," I said.

A nurse led us to the main room of the church. Many cots with people laid in them filled the floor. Each had a look of misery on their face. "I should administer the medicine myself," Naofumi said. He pulled a potion from a rack I held. It glowed in his hand and he poured the syrup into a woman's mouth. She glowed for a brief moment then creaked her eyes open.

"Woah…" the nurse gawked at the immediate recovery. This is what heroes do. Naofumi distributed the medicine, enhancing every single one. The patients recovered soon, and got up to thank their "savior." I leaned against the wall as grateful villagers swarmed Naofumi. They dispersed after a while and the cleric thanked Naofumi. "This helped us so much." Naofumi scoffed. "I treated the symptoms, not the cause. You know, I make a hefty sum from selling this medicine. I can wait and see what runs out first, your coffers or my medicine." The nurse looks shocked. Yeah, Hero my ass. I conked him on the head with a chop. "At least be a little sympathetic." He ignored me. Tch. "We know this can't go on. The miasma leaking from the mountain… we can't stop it." The nurse looked down. "Miasma?" Naofumi stepped onto his feet. The desk creaked as his weight left the wood.

"There's some kind of poison coming from a dragon corpse in the mountains. The sword hero Ren slayed the dragon but left the corpse there to rot. The demons living there are too difficult for us to get through, and any adventure that tries to climb the mountain falls before ever seeing the dragon." The cleric explained. Naofumi walked forwards and paused by the cleric. "We'll venture up there tomorrow. Raphtalia, Ariete, I want you two to sharpen your weapons." I nodded. "Wait, If you go up there, the danger will be too great! You'll perish! The court already sent us more medicine, we'll wait for the heroes to come. They're busy for now, but they will come, right?" The cleric seemed concerned for us. "Too busy, eh? Cancel the order."

"We're used to danger," Raphtalia said. "I can't find words to thank you enough!" Naofumi brushes off the old man. "I don't need thanks. I need money. 500 silvers after we clean out the dragon." The nurse and cleric gasped. "500 silvers? That's too much!" Naofumi shrugged. "Take it or leave it."

The nurse's face darkened. I didn't blame her. "That includes hazard pay. Give me whatever you sent the court, that'll do." Naofumi seemed to think this sounded like a reasonable proposal, but it was condescending. "Savior my ass! You're just a money-grubbing asshole!" I flinched at the curse. "I don't recall ever saying I was a savior. Let's go, Raphtalia. Ariete, you too." Naofumi walked out of the room.

"Sorry, he's a bit abrasive at times." Raphtalia apologized. We left. The town didn't seem to have an inn, so we slept in the carriage. The next day we borrowed cloths to tie around our mouth and nose from the church. We left for the town. Raphtalia sat in front with Naofumi while I was sitting in the back reading the book Naofumi had given me.

I eavesdropped on their conversation. "You're making them hate you on purpose, aren't you?" Raphtalia asked. Naofumi stayed silent. "I know we're dealing with a dragon, but this is a lot of equipment." Raphtalia glanced back at the crates of tools. We had pickaxes and butchering blades. "We had to take the wagon anyway. A little more cargo is probably fun for Filo anyway." The mentioned bird was humming.

"Oh!" I looked up. A mob of monsters was crowded on the path. "We're not going to get through all that without help," Naofumi said. "Faust Guard!" The carriage and Filo glowed green. "Run right through!" Filo yelped in acknowledgment. The monsters were pushed away as Filo tore through them. When we exited from the other side of the mob, I checked the carriage. Only a few scratches. I flicked a frog that was hanging onto the carriage. It fell off, then got crushed under the wheel.

"That's an ungodly smell." The air smelled like dead fish covered in mold and then set in a vat of vinegar for two months. "Stay behind if it's too strong," I grumbled and dragged the pickaxe behind me. "I can't believe that bird still has an appetite." I looked behind me. Filo was devouring another basket of fruit. It looked like leftovers from yesterday.

I looked back to the corpse in front of us. "Looking at it, taking it apart will already be a pain." I groaned as the scent got stronger. "My nostrils are threatening to bleed." I sighed and started to walk forwards. I saw a purple shine from the belly of the dragon and stopped. "NAOFUMI, RAPHTALIA! GET BACK!" I yelled. They turned towards me. "What?" I weakly pointed to the now rising dragon. "A dragon zombie!?" The two started to run back. I ran too. "What the hell is that thing?" Naofumi asked me. "It's got a core. Even if someone slays it, if the core is still there, it will be resurrected." I said between pants. The dragon rose fully and roared. A white flash rushed upwards and over us. "Filo, no!" I yelled.

We skidded to a stop and turned. Filo landed, facing the dragon. "Dragons!? I hate dragons!" Her singsong voice was now laced with bloodlust. She jumped up and kicked the dragon mid-roar. Its head snapped to the side with a crack. I heard the grotesque sound of the bones reforming. Filo's eyes were aflame, filled to the brim with yellow sparks.

"There might be a way to beat it!" Naofumi yelled over the sound of roars. A purple puff came out of the dragon. "Get behind me all of you!" Filo landed behind me as I pressed myself against Naofumi. He pulled up his viper shield and deflected a stream of toxic, purple gas. I used one hand to hold the cloth over my mouth.

"Now I'm mad!" I heard Filo let out a battle cry and rush forward. "Filo, don't fight it alone!" Naofumi cried. Filo tried to kick the dragon twice but got deflected. "We gotta go!" Filo, get back here!" The bird ignored Naofumi's calls and charged in. "That idiot!" Filo flew towards the dragon. "Filo!" I saw the bird look at us. Her gaze was cut off by the jaw of the dragon.

Red sprayed out of the dragon's mouth. I saw a lump go down the long, slender neck. "Filo?" I called. The dragon reared its head. "FILOOOO!" The dragon must die. It has to die. It killed part of my family. It killed part of me. I tried to rush forwards, but my knees stayed locked. Why? I tried to move, but my legs wouldn't respond. Why? Why!?

My knees buckled and I fell to the ground. Filo… the little glutton always out to steal my food. The one who pulled us along. I let out a cry of anguish. I look at the ground for a few moments, then hear a growl. I look up. Naofumi had dark red lines across his skin. His shield turned to something I hadn't seen before. It was large and crimson. The green gem in its center was now the same crimson that flew out of the dragon's mouth. Yes. Attack. Attack!

I roared. I felt something move next to me. A large shadow was coming down. I brought my hand up and recited a chant faster than I ever have before. "Fire Zweite!" The shadow was illuminated for a moment, then replaced by another. The something behind me blocked it. The shadow burst into beautiful flames. I cackled. Another shadow appeared to my side. I slashed out, but it moved. I noticed it standing by the something behind me. Not my problem. The shadow in front of me still existed and needed to die. I chanted harder. "Ars Firebolt Zweite!" A dark bow appeared in my hand. I felt a quiver of flames settle on my back. I drew three and fired. I saw the shadow get three new piercings.

It's not enough. It needs to die faster. Faster. Faster! Fast-

"Ariete!" I felt the darkness that settled around me lift and something from within me withdraw. I searched for it. I heard rattling. I turned around. Raphtalia was standing there. She was holding onto Naofumi. He was roaring, and flames extended from his arm. I saw them shooting towards the dragon, extending like whips. Black splotches were on Raphtalia's skin. A cut was also visible on her side, right by her stomach. "Raphtalia!" I yelled. She weakly smiled. "Hey." Raphtalia tried to yank on Naofumi's arm, but flames extended out. They burned her. She yelled and held her hand. The flesh was black.

"NAOFUMI!" I went up and slapped him. The shield appeared in front of me. I felt a hot wall force me back. Half of my vision was stained red. Why? I felt darkness envelop me. What's going on? Wait. No! I can't leave yet! I reached out and held onto the edge of my red-stained vision. It closed and I felt myself falling.

* * *

I felt a large piece of cloth holding my face. My eyes creaked open slowly. I heard choking sobs and a solemn voice. "I'm sorry. She won't be able to see from that eye ever again."

**A/N: Dun Dun Dun! Ariete's lost an eye! I felt like there needed to be more of a consequence. In the original, there were just burns and some weird curse thingy. It seems wrong to just give Ariete nothing or the easy way out. It just kinda came to me.**

**Azentra: You'll see it all soon. I promise. **

**Join us next time for a New Omake, new disabilities and sleeping inside Filo!**


	15. Chapter 14

**A/N: Welcome back! I'm going to keep this short. Thanks for making this the 6th most favorited fic on the site! It means a lot. Also, just going to say this chapter deviates from canon. A lot.**

**Enjoy!**

I cracked my eye open. It's been 3 days. My burns have mostly healed and thanks to the merchant, I have a new head of hair. There's still one thing that hasn't, and will never return. I ran my fingers across the rough flesh on my face. The left side of my vision was now black.

I lifted the eyepatch in the hopes that it would have healed and that my eye had returned. It hadn't. I sighed and sat up.

To be defeated by my deadliest weapon. It was ironic, really. I couldn't bring myself to laugh. I heard the door creak open. I glanced up from my lap.

Raphtalia was standing in the doorway. She met my eye."Is he here?" She shook her head. I moved my eye back to my lap. With a lack of things to do, I picked up a butter knife from the table beside me.

I practiced the motions pounded into me. Slash. Block. Parry. Swipe. Stab. I repeated the collection of movements for a few minutes. I soon got bored. I grumbled and set the knife down. My schedule of activities now was eating, changing my bandages and sleeping. Any conversation I had ended in me being bored or falling asleep. Raphtalia only left the room to get food, sleep and grab holy water for my bandages. The water was impure, and all it did was dull the pain from the black spots covering my eye.

I kicked the covers off. "Urrrgh!" I glared at the ceiling. "It's been 3 days. He should at least be in here to check on me once." Raphtalia looked at me. "He's been busy."

"With what!? What's so important that you won't even check up on your friend!?" I yelled. Raphtalia stood up. "Ariete, calm down. He's just… getting money to pay for your things." I looked at her suspiciously. Hmph. I'll trust her for now.

I laid back down. "Naofumi could have visited once. Just one time to see if I was okay. Maybe he is making people hate him on purpose." I heard a knock. The cleric stepped through the door. "Ah, Ariete. I've got some good and bad news for you." He smiled at me. "Your injuries have healed up quite well. You should be able to leave that bed tomorrow. However, I recommend not straining your body in things like fighting. You'll be able to return to the battlefield in… about 2 weeks." I gaped at the long amount of time. "Two weeks? The wave is in four days!" I shouted. He shook his head. "It's my recommendation." He said. He left the room. "How am I supposed to help Naofumi and you if I can't even fight for two weeks?" I grumbled. I went back to staring at my lap.

The next day came. I was able to stand, as long as I had a cane or wall to support myself on. Naofumi still hadn't visited. "Raphtalia, get Naofumi." She looked at me. "W-Well, Naofumi has been-"

"Tell him I don't care. He needs to get his behind here before I drag it back myself." She nodded and walked out. I sat onto the chair beside the bed that had been my prison for a few days. I waited. Raphtalia came into the room a while later. "Sorry, I can't find him."

"Two reckless party members running around without supervision? One's dead and the other probably is in trouble." Raphtalia gasped at the dark joke. I didn't care. "Let's go." She nodded and followed me as I hobbled outside. I thanked the cleric and the nurse for taking care of me. They gave us five bottles of holy water and insisted I keep the eyepatch free of charge. We headed outside. I looked around, but Naofumi wasn't anywhere to be seen. I glanced to my right. The carriage stood there. I assumed Naofumi and Raphtalia rushed back to the cleric with me first, then pushed the carriage here.

Filo… she's dead. I saw her get eaten. Dammit! I pounded my fist on my thigh. "We need to find some use for the carriage. We could sell it, but I think Filo wouldn't like that very much. Naofumi would be delighted at the extra money, though." I suggested. I looked back to see Raphtalia crying. I wrapped my arms around her and she sobbed into my shoulder.

"It's okay." I soothed. "Even if Filo's gone, we'll make it through." I felt my eyes tearing up. Even the one that was missing had tears coming through it. The eyepatch felt wet on my face. "No, it's not Filo. Filo's alive." I heard Raphtalia murmur.

"What?" I pulled back and looked at my sister. She looked like a kid caught stealing candy. "Filo's alive!?" She nodded. I hugged her tight. "Oh, this is great!" I twirled around in a circle. That dumb bird isn't dead! I felt Raphtalia still sobbing in my shoulder.

"Hey, Hey. What's still got you so teary-eyed?" I asked. She looked away. "I-I can't tell you." I used my hand to gently pull her face back. "You can tell me anything, Raphtalia. What's the secret?" She seemed to choke and my joy fell away.

"N-No, I can't tell. I can't." She forced her face to look away from me. I stood there confused.

"Wait, if FIlo's alive, where is she? I know her, she's never gone anywhere without her carriage within ten meters of her." I looked at the carriage. The harness was empty, and the carriage seemed untouched for a few days. "Also, if Naofumi was doing things, wouldn't he be using the carriage?" It clicked in my mind.

"Raphtalia, where did Naofumi go?" She looked down. "_Raphtalia._" I forced her face to look at mine. "H-He left." What!? "He said to not tell you. He s-said he didn't want to hurt us anymore, so he left me the money and left. Filo went looking for him and never came back." Her shaky voice told me all I needed to know.

"That stupid bird and stupid Naofumi!" I felt the anger inside me flare up again. I heard rattling. I looked around me, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The sound didn't repeat itself. I kicked the carriage and it creaked. "AGH! How are we supposed to find them!?" Raphtalia was still crying behind me. "Why didn't you tell me earlier!?" I was shouting. "I-I didn't want to worry you." She whimpered. I saw the fear in her eyes. I pushed down my anger. "Hey, I didn't mean to shout. We just now need to find Naofumi and Filo, okay?"

Raphtalia nodded and we started to ask the townspeople basic questions. Had they seen Naofumi or Filo? What direction were they going? One told us to look east. I thanked them and we started to trek east. Knowing Naofumi, he probably already has made it near the border. "We need to get a ride," I said.

As if Fate heard my plea, and then made a solution out of her own spit, I heard a voice. "Oh god, no." I looked up with my one eye and confirmed my worst fears. Motoyasu.

I whispered into Raphtalia's ear. "We're going to need to tag along with Motoyasu-bou for a while." Her face twisted in disgust and I smiled. "We'll take care of making fun of them later, now all we need to do is get to the east." I stepped forward. "Hey, Motoyasu-san!" Ick. Saying his name with an honorific was extremely disturbing to me. Let's hope this doesn't happen ever again.

The yellow-haired hero looked back in surprise. "Ariete? Raphtalia?" I waved and put on a fake smile. "Oh my, what happened to your eye?" He rushed to 'make sure I was okay' but ended up just touching me. He was a centimeter away from me screaming molester and making sure he leaves without his head. Or his organs. Either works. "It just got busted during a battle." The cheerful tone I made had me nearly sick with how much sugar was in it.

"Naofumi ran off and left us behind. We need a ride to the est side to get our slave crests off." I lied. Motoyasu looked at us with pity. "Oh, you poor things. Sure, we'll take you along. We just got a new flying dragon." Is he really that gullible? Also, a dragon!? We'll get to the border in no time!

"Let's go!" He showed us to his campsite, where the rest of his party members were sitting. A large blue dragon was sitting behind everyone. "Hey, I'm back!" The four girls sitting at the campfire, which were giggling stopped and looked at him. Then us. Red-Hair glared at me. "Why did you bring that _filthy demi-human_ back here!?" She said. Her anger was barely restrained behind her words. I see that Ariete's Beauty salon had done wonders. Her hair was boyish now, short and curly. I kept myself from laughing by digging my nails into my palm.

"These two were abandoned by Naofumi. They'll be with us until they get to one of the eastern cities." Short-Hair kept looking at me with disgust, then looked at Motoyasu. Her smile was so fake and sweet, it would probably kill if it were food. "Isn't Castle town closer?"

"I heard from a priest the holy water in the eastern cities were as pure as can be." I weaved the lies like they were thread. "Ah, then we can head over to the east then," Motoyasu said cheerfully. Short-Hair frowned.

The group fed us, and after a attempt to burn the hair I had regrown, I regretted my decision to tag along. Short-Hair was always pointing out minor flaws in me, with the other girls backing her up. Their dear Motoyasu was out looking for more firewood. "Haha, I bet the only redeeming feature of Ariete is that she's not always trying to get into the Shield Hero's pants!" The group burst out giggling. What did you just say? "Eh!? N-No, Me and Naofumi-sama aren't li-"

"Haha, the slut even denies it!" The group giggled once more. I pulled out my dagger. I dashed forwards and put my blade to her throat. "Try and insult her one more time. See what happens." I shortened her already short hair with a swipe and then made unnoticeable cuts on the straps of her armor. She squeaked and held her hair, where tiny pieces were now falling.

I returned to my spot next to the fire. When Motoyasu gets back, I'm using Raphtalia's charms to make him take us to the border cities.

Motoyasu returned. With another girl. I swear this man is a playboy disguised as a hero. Oh wait, he is a playboy. "H-Hi. My name's Melty. I got separated from some of my guards when I went playing with filolials. I'll be in your care for a while."

Hm. A princess. I shrugged. "We should get going now. I want to get to the cities before dark."

"Wait! My friend isn't here yet!" Friend? On cue, a certain blond haired, white-winged girl burst from the bushes. "Filo!?" I looked in disbelief. Filo, Raphtalia and I stared at each other then came together in a group hug. "Filo!" Raphtalia cried. I smiled and held the little bird tightly. "Don't leave ever again, or I'll have to chain you." Raphtalia said. Filo laughed.

I released Filo to get crushed further in the arms of my sister. I looked back. Motoyasu's party members were all grumbling. Motoyasu himself was drooling at the sight of Filo.

Oh boy, this is going to be a long day.

**A/N: Alrighty, Ariete's got a new problem to deal with, Naofumi! She's now teamed up with Motoyasu. I had a ton of fun writing this chapter.**

**Azentra: Honestly, I didn't see the plot twist either. At that point, I was going on autopilot and then accidentally wrote a plot twist. Oh well.**

**Vaxadeki: Thanks! **

**Omake time! By the way, you'll want to pay attention to the next few Omakes. They're important.**

Omake 6: I ran out of Ideas

"Urgh!" I glanced over at my friend. She crumpled up another piece of paper. "Seaetto-sensei is going to get mad at you for wasting paper, Lilika."

"I can't find a idea to write about. I want to write plays and stories, but I can't come up with the ideas in the first place!" She grumbled in frustration. I sat next to her. "Well, what's the first thing to come to your mind?" She looked at me. "Nothing! No ideas in my head." Lilika rested her head on the desk and groaned. "Tell me the first thing that comes to your head, any word, anything." She lifted her head. "Fish." I laughed and she glared at me.

"Don't worry, that's not only to tease you." She raised her chin in mock annoyance. "So, write a story about fish," I said. She gaped at me. "How do I write a story about fish?" I dashed to the exit of the room. "You're the writer, write it!"

**By the way, I did write the Omake specifically because I ran out of ideas. So I took the first Idea (Writer's block) to mind and wrote a quick omake. **

**Next chapter we have Filo, Melty, Naofumi and everyone else getting into trouble in Eastern Cities.**


	16. Chapter 15

**A/N: Hey, I'm back. If you didn't see, I posted a new fic! Shields, Girls, and Dating Sims! It won't be updated as much as I update Twinning, but do expect the next chapter soon. **

**Aside from self-promotion, I am still seeking out a beta. Send me a PM if interested.**

**Also, as of this chapter, Twinning has the most words out of and K-T fic in the fandom. Not to brag or anything. Words don't make a story good, I know from experience. Still, it's an achievement.**

**More WN spoilers ahead!**

**Enjoy!**

Motoyasu started to approach Filo. "Don't even think about it." I put my arm out. He looked at me. "I have a thing for angels…" He started to drool again. I stepped back and whispered into Filo's ear.

"Whatever you do, don't transform." She looked at me strangely and then nodded. "We should get to the cities before dark." Motoyasu nodded." Come on, girls." I got onto the dragon. The saddle ran down the length of the dragon, ending where the dragon's tail began. It wasn't that wide, so we had to ride in one long line.

A blue-haired woman was the rider in front of me. Raphtalia and Filo were behind me. Motoyasu was the front-most rider. She didn't make any snarky remarks as I got on.

"Alright, let's do this!" Motoyasu pulled on the reins. The dragon jerked and then started to beat its wings. A dust cloud engulfed us for a second, then we were in the air. "Woah." I could see Castle Town from here and Riyuute. They quickly got smaller. "Waaah! Filo could go faster than this!" I looked back at the whining girl. She was swinging her legs around. "Don't do that! You'll fall!" Raphtalia held the little girl down.

"You don't seem like to other girls," I whispered to the bluenette in front of me. She had basic equipment, a longsword, and leather armor. The girl tensed. "You don't go out of your way to insult us, you only go along with Short-Hair and the other woman." She sighed. "I go along with them for survival, not for pleasure." She didn't seem keen on elaborating, so I left it at that.

We moved fast, and the eastern cities were in sight within view when we settled down. "It's getting dark." Motoyasu pointed to the orange sun. He settled down in a clearing. The dragon snorted and laid down. "Alright girls, stay there. I'll set up camp." Motoyasu started to put up tents and gather firewood. "Oh, look how hardworking he is!" the other girls started praising him. Raphtalia and I started to help gather wood. "Here." I handed Motoyasu a bundle of sticks.

"Ah, thanks, but a fine girl like you shouldn't be gathering wood! Let me do it." I knew he wasn't supposed to be condescending, but he was condescending. "I'll be fine." I went back to gathering wood.

"Hah, the slave does the work even when her master's not around." The girls burst into laughter at Short-Hair's remark. I then heard two yelps as I freed two sticks from my hand. The blue-haired one gave me an appreciative smile. The little girl that came with Filo looked surprised.

"Ah!" I looked behind me. Raphtalia had just sacrificed a stick to block a Rabbit's bite. She drew her sword. "I got it!" Motoyasu ran in from behind her, knocked her down and then stabbed the rabbit. "Hey!" I dropped my sticks and started to march over. "Why'd you push Raphtalia down?" Motoyasu raised his spear, took the rabbit off, then slid his spear back over his shoulder. "She was in danger. I saved her."

"I can take care of myself, thank you very much." Raphtalia got up and brushed herself off. Every girl in the group yelped as Motoyasu got onto one knee. "I'm very sorry m'lady. Forgive me for harming you." He looked up at Raphtalia and took her hand.

"What the hell do you think you're doing to my sister!?" Motoyasu jerked back at my voice. "I was just apologizing." My tail swished in annoyance. "By proposing to her!?" Motoyasu rubbed his head sheepishly. "Well, I… uh…" I grumbled and picked up the sticks I had dropped. I shoved them into his hands and stood by the dragon. Raphtalia quickly joined me. "You know, I didn't need you to do that." I waved her off. "It's fine. Anything for my little sis." She groaned. I tuned out her complaints about how 'I'm not your little sister!' and other things.

The camp was set up. I rolled out a sleeping mat for myself and Raphtalia, and then one for FIlo and the girl she befriended. Also, I hadn't spoken to this girl. I approached the blue haired girl. She had an elaborate dress on. "Filo-chan~" She chirped. The girl was sitting by a tree. She perked her head up. "Mel-chan? What's going on?" The girl smiled and pulled some meat jerky from somewhere in her dress. "Want jerky?" She dangled the piece of meat from her hands. Filo's eyes glowed and she looked at me. I glanced around. The other girls and Motoyasu were on the other side of the camp. I nodded at her.

"Yay!" Filo transformed and took the jerky in her mouth. Filo munched on the meat. Filo transformed back into her human form and the two girls started to play. So much for talking to Mel-chan. I sat back near the fire with Raphtalia. She was holding something in her hands. I moved my head forward to take a better look. It was the ball she was given by Naofumi. "It's been the first time we've been separated since the wave." She said. I rubbed her shoulder. "He has his reasons. Let's just hope they're good ones or else I won't be hesitating to punch him." Raphtalia stifled a laugh. "Yeah, let's hope they are." I sat there next to the fire. Filo and Mel-chan quieted down and the others returned to their tents. "I'll turn in," Raphtalia said. The fire was still crackling. I nodded. "Hey, Ariete, where's the girl that was playing with Filo?" I looked back. Filo was sleeping peacefully. A pile of clothes sat next to Filo. "You don't think that she…"

Filo. No. You did not just eat your friend. Friends are not food. "Filo?" I whisper-yelled. The bird stayed asleep.

"Raphtalia, we tell no one." I backed away from the bird. "Eh!?' I shushed her. "Filo just ate a girl that's from the wealthy families, and probably from the Nobles! We say she did nothing, and the girl ran away, alright?" Filo stirred. "Huh? What is Ariete-onee-chan doing?" She said.

"Filo, where is Mel-chan?" I asked. "Oh, Mel-chan's sleeping inside Filo's feathers!" Filo shook her feathers. I sighed in relief. Raphtalia dead-panned. "Mel-chan, wake up!"

"Eh? What is it, Filo-chan?" The girl's sleepy face popped out of Filo's feathers. "Why are you inside Filo?" Raphtalia asked.

"Filo's feathers are warm! I took off my clothes because it's too hot with them on in here. It's soft too!" She chirped. As a test, Raphtalia stuck her arm in. "So warm~" She was knocked out on the spot. Mel-chan and Filo dozed off too. Oh, what could go wrong during the night? The fire's already gone. I stripped and embedded myself inside the feathers. Mel-chan's not wrong. It's quite soft…

I woke up to voices. "Huh?" I looked around me. There was a commotion outside the warm feathers. "I didn't eat them, they're sleeping in me!" I heard Filo say. "You ate them! You'll pay!" Motoyasu shouted. Oh no. I felt myself being lifted into the air. "Waaah!" I held on tight to the feathers around me. "Filo-chan did not eat them! Here they are!" I felt the feather I was holding onto detach from Filo's body. "Wait, no!" I fell. Raphtalia must've slipped inside Filo during the night because she fell out with us. "Woah!" I made an 'oof' sound as my back hit the ground. My panties hit the dirt. Motuyasu gaped at the show in front of him. Raphtalia was still asleep, somehow, Mel-chan was naked and I was in only panties. I felt my cheeks heat up. Mel-chan screeched and covered herself up. That woke Raphtalia, who looked around and saw the predicament. Hers and my tail started to swish violently. "You pervert!" We screamed at the same time. We both launched ourselves at Motoyasu and slapped him. His head was hit with force from the left and right and started to compress. It slipped back and my hand met Raphtalia's.

"Ow!" Motoyasu was still looking forward. His eyes met my single eye, then ventured downward. I kicked his face back. He was out cold. "Motoyasu-sama!" Short-hair started to fuss over her hero. I went back and retrieved my clothing.

Mel-chan and I were dressed. Motoyasu was still lying on the ground. His face was turning to purple. "Do you think we went overboard?" Raphtalia asked. "No." I walked up to him and kicked him in the groin. Both he and Short-Hair yelped. "AH!" He started to roll on the ground while holding his crotch. I doubled over laughing. "Stop hurting Motoyasu-sama!" Short-Hair screeched. I laughed harder.

Once Motoyasu was able to stand, we left for the eastern cities. Motoyasu seemed depressed and looked over his shoulder at Filo. "Can't believe she was that bird…" He muttered. Yes! So he won't go preying after Filo anymore. "It's nice she'll be in her angel form for the ride though…: He started to drool again. No. Bad Spear Hero.

We were flying over the eastern cities. I looked below. The people were just small specks. "Get a little closer to the ground, I need to find the right church." I squinted my eyes. None of the people looked like Naofumi. We moved past the city and started towards the next one. I peered down at the path below. A person in green had his cloak drawn over his head and a shield sticking out of his cloak. "Filo, transform," I ordered. "Eh?" She looked at me then nodded. The dragon roared and we tilted back. Raphtalia, Mel-chan and I slipped into Filo's feathers. The others held on for dear life. "Sorry, but we got to disembark early. Have fun!" I cheered.

"Filo, jump off and glide down!" The bird followed my orders. Everyone shouted in glee as we soared down. We landed in front of the cloaked figure. "Weren't we going with the other guy? Mel-chan asked me. I shushed her and then slipped out of the feathers. "Naofumi, You have five seconds to explain yourself."

**A/N: A slightly shorter chapter than normal. Sorry about the delay on this one.**

**This arc will continue for another 2 or 3 chapters, then I'll move onto our dealings with the queen. **

**Azentra: Ariete thinking of Melty as a princess was a joke. As in "daddy's little princess got lost in the woods"**

**It is redundant to say I'm deviating from canon, but, well… um… reasons.**

**Come back for The Wave, Reconciliation, and a third thing I can't name but am too stubborn to use a different format so that it fits!**


	17. Chapter 16

**A/N: Hey! I'm back! Not much to say, other than check out the bottom A/N for a new Omake.**

**Enjoy!**

The cloaked figure stood there, silent. He then chuckled. "I should have known you'd find me somehow." He looked up. "Motoyasu?"

"Don't question it. Now, explaining." He put his head down. "Look, you two aren't being hurt by me anymore. End of story." Raphtalia stepped forwards. "Do you know how worried we've been!? We have been looking for you for the past two days! And here you are, abandoning the whole country! What happened to 'preventing other children from what I went through,' hm?" Naofumi's in trouble now. Hell hath no fury like a scorned Raphtalia. Mel-chan had yet to come out of Filo.

"You two are more than capable enough of doing that on your own. I'm not needed." He turned around. "I didn't get to say it before, but goodbye." He started to walk away. "Waaaah!" Filo whined. "Master promised me he wouldn't leave!"

I watched as Filo started to physically "convince" Naofumi to stay. "Get off me you stupid bird!" Raphtalia held a hand over her mouth and I could hear her giggles. Or were they mine? Mel-chan yelped and shot out of Filo's feathers. She stood next to us. "Uh, what's Filo-chan doing?" I waved her off. "It's fine. Don't question it."

Naofumi stayed underneath Filo for another 30 minutes. "To get out, all you have to do is promise to stay." My eye met his. He grumbled. "I can't do that. You've already been disabled for life, Ariete." Mel-chan looked between me and Naofumi. It seemed he didn't notice the extra girl yet.

"Like I care." His head jerked up. "What? It's just an eye. And only one at that." My eyepatch moved slightly in the wind. "Look, do I really need to spell it out for you? You can make me blind or deaf, take a hand or two, but I really don't care. Why? You did it on accident. You're also one of the lucky ones I learned to forgive. If it were someone else though, well 'eye for an eye' would be quite gruesome."

He looked shocked for a moment then chuckled. "Fine. I'll stick with you all." Filo started to cheer. "Yay! Master didn't leave me!" She transformed. She hugged the bruised back of Naofumi. "Ow…" He complained. Raphtalia walked up to him. We all looked in surprise as her palm hit Naofumi's cheek. "That's for leaving."

She then pulled him back up, then tackled him with a bear hug. She snuggled into the shoulder of his armor. "This is for coming back." Awww. My little Raphtalia is all grown up. I glanced around. Some flower bushes were tucked away behind a tree. I quickly gathered a few. I dug in my pocket. I need to work fast. "What're you doing?" She whispered. "Wait and see."

I found the cloth I was looking for. I wrapped the stems of the flowers in the cloth. Raphtalia finally got off Naofumi and the two stood up. They glanced around awkwardly.

"Alright, Raphtalia holds this, and then you hold this hand out…" I placed the hastily-made bouquet into my sister's hands. I guided Naofumi's palm out and forced him onto a knee. "Alright. Now all I need to do is burn this one into my memory." I stepped back to admire my handiwork. It looked like Raphtalia just accepted a proposal from Naofumi. They both realized at the same time and flushed. Raphtalia yelped and nearly dropped the flowers. Naofumi withdrew his hand and started rubbing the back of his neck. "Uh…" He moved his head left. Mel-chan was stifling a laugh.

"I'm not letting Raphtalia-onee-Chan steal Naofumi!" Filo started to make a fuss. I laughed as she tried to steal Raphtalia's bouquet. "Ah, Ariete! Help!" I looked away and whistled. "Your romantic rival. Your problem, sis." She groaned. "Filo is not my romantic rival!"

"Ah, So you're okay with sharing?" Raphtalia turned redder and a Filo stopped attacking Raphtalia. She looked up at Raphtalia. "Do you want to share Master?" Raphtalia jumped out of the bird's reach. "I-I'm not sharing!"

"So selfish to take Naofumi all for yourself…" Filo pouted and continued attacking Raphtalia. "Is Filo-chan and all of you always like this?" Mel-chan asked. I nodded. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

Split.

We traveled back to Castle Town. It took us a few days. Naofumi nodded approvingly at the girl who had befriended Filo. The two played late into the night, then fell asleep, one inside the other. I made sure to stay up late and wake up early to avoid being caught slipping in and out of Filo. Her feathers were too warm to wear armor.

Mel-chan said her goodbyes and Filo walked her home. She seemed to know her way around the capital. Maybe her father is a friend of the nobility? The mid-day sun beat down on me. "Ugh. It's fall. Shouldn't it be cooler?" I complained. No one answered. Oh well, I'll deal with it. The wave's tomorrow. It's going to be stronger than the last.

First, we stopped by the cathedral. The outside was decorated with intricate drawings of different myths and legends. We entered through the large main doors. An old man in robes and jewels entered the hall from the side. "Welcome to this cathedral, built to please and serve God. What brings you here to this holy site?" Nuns flanking the priest scowled at the sight of Naofumi. Judgemental thorns in my side.

"I'd like holy water. My two companions here have acquired a curse." Naofumi didn't seem keen on the church. Neither was I.

"Ah, then you must make an offering. The size of the offering depends on the quality of holy water you require." The priest smiled. "I need two bottles of your strongest holy water. "

"That will be two gold coins." Ouch. "I don't think it's proper to haggle in front of God, so here." Naofumi dropped two coins into a nearby nun's hand. The nun gave it to the priest. "Naofumi, no need to be so extravagant with my treatment," Raphtalia whispered. "Eh, it's not costing you anything, Raphtalia. Don't complain about a gift. Naofumi's just doing something for his fiance." She flushed. "W-We aren't getting married!" I shushed her then giggled quietly.

The priest inspected the coins then signaled to the nun with his hands. "Please be patient." A few minutes later, a nun presented two bottles of holy water to Naofumi on a pillow. The water was cloudy and a little yellowish. "This doesn't seem like quality holy water to me," Naofumi said. I leaned in for a sniff. That's not holy water. That is something else. Something not good.

The priest looked towards the nun. "God is kind to all. If this is a way to satisfy your own personal justice, then you must repent!" The nun looked scared. "I-I'm sorry!" The nun bowed low, then rushed the bottles of yellow liquid away. She came back with two glowing bottles. They glowed a faint white and were crystal clear. "Thanks." Naofumi gestured for us to leave.

We exited the church, and immediately a soldier was shouting at us. "The shield hero!" It was a young knight. "Run!" Naofumi grabbed Raphtalia's shoulder and my hand. I had already started to bolt away. "Wait!" The knight called. We rounded a corner. "Why are they after us!?" Raphtalia shouted. "I don't know!" Naofumi said back. The knight was staying with us. "They're after me! You two run and get Filo!" He ducked into an alley to the left. Raphtalia immediately slid right and gestured for me to follow. "Sorry, but knowing him, he's gonna get in trouble." I waved and then jumped down the alley.

I skidded to a halt in a plaza. Naofumi had his hands on his knees and was panting hard. "Ariete?" He said between gasps. "You're bound to get into trouble. I just came along. Now about that-" I was interrupted as a plume of dust appeared in front of me. I was pushed back from the blast. "What the hell!?"

"Naofumi!" Huh!? Motoyasu!? "I knew you were bad, but now... " He trailed off. "We're in a public place, Idiot!" The plume of dust cleared and I pulled out my dagger. "Free them, you slave trading hero!" What!? Is he talking about… oh. Oh. "Are you talking about Raphtalia and Ariete?"

"Yes! Also, you have a new slave, don't you!?" Motoyasu yelled and aimed the point of his spear. Townsfolk started to evacuate the area and shopkeepers used stray boards to start protecting their storefronts. "We settled this with the duel!" Naofumi yelled.

"You abandoned them! The ones you were so eager to protect, you abandoned them! Ariete was even injured! She lost an eye, yet you ran away!" Motoyasu seemed genuinely angry. Heh, maybe he might be a human being with such frivolous things like "caring" in his brain. "Filo too! Free her! I have a thing for angels." Okay, I take back all the good thoughts I had of Motoyasu. Why'd he moan that last part? I shuddered.

"You'd go for any type of girl, wouldn't you?" Naofumi said. Heh, good one. "No! I'll save her from you!" Motoyasu yelled. He shot forwards, thrusting at Naofumi. Naofumi dodged and bashed Motoyasu with his Shield to add distance. The soldier from before came running in.

"Stop it!" The soldier put himself between Motoyasu and Naofumi. "Who do you think you are!?" Motoyasu yelled. "This is a major commercial and residential area. I will not allow a duel in a city street, per the law. Put your weapons away." His voice was shaky.

"This is an official duel. I have royal authority to declare it so." Dammit! Short-Hair walked into the destruction field. "Even with that, Heroes should not duel in a city. Also, the challenge is not deemed fair. The Shield cannot fight for himself." Hm. The soldiers are better than I thought. Wait, isn't that guy from the group of knights that helped us in Riyuute?

"You fool! You cannot ignore royal commands!" Short-Hair barked. A familiar voice answered. "I do not approve of a duel between heroes. I hereby void my sister's authority in this matter and declare this duel illegal. Disband immediately." Mel-chan? I looked at the girl. She was standing on the opposite side of the square.

"Ariete!" I turned my head around. Raphtalia was running in with Filo. "What's going on, Ariete-onee-chan?" Filo asked. Motoyasu pushed me aside and knelt down in front of Filo. "Filo-chan. We've met before on the dragon. Please come with me!" Filo frowned. "You tried to hurt my Master. You also like dragons!" She transformed. "I hate dragons!" Motoyasu seemed a little less confident.

He went into the air. A thin stream of red followed him. "Wait…" We got that foot claw for Filo the other day. "Filo, you didn't just…" I looked at her foot. The metal claw was extended. I recoiled. "Ouch. I can feel that pain from here." Motoyasu was now laying in the remains of a cart, unconscious and bleeding from his groin. "Naofumi, Raphtalia, Filo! We need to go. NOW!" I yelled. The three looked at me, and the fear I could tell was on my face. I don't want to be near a man who just had his hopes of being a father crushed in a single day. Naofumi looked at Motoyasu a final time and blanched. "Okay, yeah. Let's go." We got into the carriage we retrieved from the village. "Let's go! Full speed!" Filo was about to launch, but Mel-chan shouted. "Wait! Filo-chan, Shield Hero!" 

I glanced back. The princess was staring back at us. "Can we find a place to talk?"

**A/N: I am so sorry for the late chapter! It's quarterly exam week, and study guides are mandatory for 4 of the 4 classes I have tomorrow, on top of the tests I took today, and then Thursday is when Quarterly projects are due, so ugh. School's really hectic around this time. I have been working on something special for this story too. Well, three somethings. You'll see what they are soon. A hint comes from a certain person's profile I may have mentioned in a fic. **

**Azentra: Ah, the WN spoilers were referring to chapters 101-105 of the WN. It was really subtle though. Probably didn't need the warning.**

**LightDas: Well, here we are.**

**Omake Time!**

**There's a special song to go with this Omake. It's pretty obvious where to start it. The link is: https(colon)(slash)(slash) (slash)VQcMNZlrtYE**

Omake 7: Lilika's Waltz

I kicked my feet around. Seaetto-sensei had already sent me home for the day, but Lilika was staying late for some reason. It was weird. I heard the faint noises of instruments being played in the other room. They stopped and I hopped off the bench. Lilika appeared from the door of the auditorium.

"Lilika, what took you so long?" I asked. "Ah, I'm working on something with Eclair-senpai." Hm?

"Can I hear it?" Lilika nodded. She let me into the auditorium. The wide hall had a off-putting scent. "Eclair-senpai says the air's stale."

"Eclair-senpai! Can we show Ariete the waltz?" The older girl's head poked out from the curtain. I waved and smiled. "Sure, come on down." I sat in the seat closest to the stage. Eclair picked up the violin and Lilika sat at the piano. Eclair slid her foot, letting out a squeak. Lilika began to play.

It was fine music. The two played for a few minutes. At the end, I clapped. "Wow, That's really good, Lilika!" We hugged. Eclair-senpai smiled at us. "Thanks for letting me listen, Eclair-senpai." I bowed.

**Come back next time for the wave and Kidnapping accusations!**


	18. Chapter 17

**A/N: I am so sorry that this came out a day late! Like I said in the last chapter, it's exam week. Turns out that one of my online projects was due yesterday, and I wasn't able to finish this in time. Sorry for the delay! **

**The next chapter of my other fic, Shields, Girls and Dating Sims will be coming out soon, no worries. The chapters are extra long. Check it out if you haven't already. **

**I am still searching for a beta. PM me if you're interested. **

**Enjoy!**

We made our last stop in Castle town. Oyami's shop. "Woah." A lineup of swords and daggers were already set up. "I heard you were in town. The ruckus outside wasn't exactly subtle." He looked at Mel-chan. He frowned. "Look, kid. My shop isn't a conference room."

"Sorry, we didn't know anywhere else," Raphtalia said. He opened his mouth. I cut him off. "We may or may not have disabled the Spear Hero's child-making abilities. Rather than being arrested for the murder of Pervert-san's lower brain, we decided to run." Oyami looked between me and Naofumi then sighed. "I don't make enough to care." He muttered. He retreated back to the storeroom. Naofumi placed himself in the corner of the shop. "First, tell me your full name."

"I am Malty Melromarc, second princess of Melromarc. I am first in line to inherit the throne." Huh? "First in line?" Naofumi crossed his arms. "My sister has certain… flaws that made my mother, the Queen, prioritize me for inheritance. My sister's flaws caused trouble in the past." Me and Naofumi snorted. "I see. Filo?" The bird jumped up from sitting spot. "Yes, Master?"She chirped. "I forbid you from playing with this girl."

"Huh?" Everyone except Naofumi gaped at him in surprise. "I should've noticed before. Why would someone as young as you just be frolicking around alone in the fields like that? You hid your identity to get close to me." Okay, there's paranoia, then there's prejudice. I feel the latter applies here. "You're misunderstanding! Filo spoke so highly of you, so I thought you were the Saint…" She put her head down. "People in the village knew me too. You must've known as well. You befriended Filo to get close to us! You're with Motoyasu, aren't you?!" He shouted. "Wait! Hear me out!"

Naofumi cut her off with a hand. "I listened to your father. Then I trusted your sister. Look at where that got me. No offense, but I'm done trusting that bloodline." His voice had a sense of finality to it. Soldiers opened the door. "Miss Melty, the King requests an audience with you." Melty hung her head low and followed the soldiers out. The door creaked closed as they left.

"I'm sorry, but what was that?" I turned my head to look Naofumi in the eye. My eyepatch shuffled at the sudden movement. "What?"

"That wasn't exactly kind, Naofumi-san." Raphtalia scolded. "Yeah. There's a difference between being a little paranoid and completely shutting off a whole family. You barely even knew her!" he waved me off. "She's a part of _that_ family. She can't be trusted." I scoffed. I was about to shoot a snarky reply, but another soldier burst into the shop. Followed by a whole squadron. "You from before! Get out of here!" Naofumi asked. They were the ones chasing us earlier. "I saw you while doing my rounds. We decided we need to talk to you. So, I'm not leaving!" Naofumi grumbled. "Fine. Make it quick."

The soldiers stood up straight. "We want to fight by your side Shield Hero!"

"Huh?" Naofumi finally took the squad seriously. "We all saw you fighting in the last wave! We want to help! We.. we're all from Riyuute. We know that other villages must be suffering from the waves too…"

"You're better off with another hero or an adventurer that fights the waves." Naofumi shifted slightly as he spoke. "We need to fight the waves, and as soldiers, our highest priority is to protect the citizens." The soldier clenched his fist. "We need to protect people who can't protect themselves, like the people in Riyuute." Hm. Good point, soldier guy. "A noble concern. Here." Naofumi reached inside his armor and pulled out a necklace he crafted. "You all gather money and buy this necklace. 150 silvers. Do it, and I'll trust you." What? "T-That's too much, Naofumi-san…" Raphtalia said.

"We'll collect the funds right away!" The soldiers left. Naofumi started to converse with Oyami. I didn't care about what they were saying. I was engrossed inside the book Naofumi had given me before. "Let's go." He called. I closed the book, marking the place with a piece of paper.

"Where we going?" I noticed that we were heading towards the center of the capital, not rushing to get out of it. Whatever we were doing, we better do it fast. "We're going to get classed up." Hm? "What's that mean?" I asked. "Process to make your level go above forty." Oh. I nodded. "Wait, where's your armor?"

"I left it at the shop. He'll improve it. He's also crafting new armor for you and Raphtalia. Apparently, he's got a new blade in stock for tomorrow." I nodded again then buried my face back into the book sitting in front of me.

I closed the book and set it down on the bench. The carriage halted its movement and I jumped off. We left the carriage outside and went into the capitol building. After a few hallways, we entered a large atrium. A large hourglass with spinning gems. A group of nuns stood near the hourglass. "We'd like to do a class-up." The nuns seemed displeased. "To class up, one must pay a fee of 15 gold coins."

"What!?" My jaw dropped. "Naofumi, that's too much!" Raphtalia yelled. I agreed with her. 15 gold coins? That was enough to buy a carriage. Naofumi walked up and placed a bag in the nun's hands. "Raphtalia, you first."

The nun looked surprised for a moment. "The Shield Hero and his Companions are forbidden from a class up." I turned around. Another nun wearing large, round glasses was looking at us. She held in front of her a scroll. It had a royal stamp on it. "There is also a request for the Shield Hero to present himself in the royal king's court. This was issued today." Really?

Naofumi let out a growl and then waved his hand. "Let's go." We followed him. The nun protested. "The Shield Hero must appear today!" Naofumi waved her off. "Tell the trash king I'll be there after I'm finished defending whatever poor town gets hit by the wave." I hopped onto the carriage and Filo put herself in the harness. "Let's go. Full speed!" The nun shouted as we took off. I guess we'll be sleeping in the meadows.

* * *

We picked up Naofumi's armor and Raphtalia's new sword the next day. It was now more streamlined and had new bone plating. "Is that from the dragon?" I asked. Naofumi nodded. "I put in the dragon core you gave me. The armor also repairs itself. My best work so far." The old man stepped back and admired it while Naofumi slid it over his shirt. "You're really working to make me look like a bandit king. This armor looks like something from my world. It's something someone would ride when riding a Filolial."

"In that case, wear it and ride me, master!" I snorted and Oyami frowned at Filo's comment. "What the missus just said sounds very obscene, young lad." He crossed his arms. "Shut up. In any case, I'll take it."

"You know, it doesn't look half bad," Raphtalia commented. I pushed her lightly in Naofumi's direction. "Little Sis, you need to add a little spice." I leaned into her ear. "Just tell him exactly what you're thinking. Like he's strong, he's witty and that you love him." I leaned away to see a reddened Raphtalia. "T-That's not true!" She said. Naofumi looked between us, confused. He shrugged and then went back to conversing with Oyami. I idly twirled my dagger in my hand.

I examined my favorite blade again. It was a little dull. Hold on…

"Hey! My dagger's got a chip in it!" I looked at the little chunk missing from my blade. Naofumi looked at it. "It might be time to upgrade your dagger." He turned to Oyami. "You had a lineup of them yesterday. Let's take another look." The shopkeeper spread out an assortment on daggers on the table. Two caught my eye. One had an orange handle with a blue gem complimenting it. The other had a green handle with a yellow gem. It was longer than the other and had a sharper point. I picked up one. The other flew into my other hand. "Woah."

"They're magically bonded objects." Oyami explained. "What's that?" Naofumi asked. "They can be manipulated by a person's mana. I bought them off a merchant. Said he found them in an abandoned village named Ikaruga. " I reached out with my mana and felt it shake hands with the daggers. I felt like there were three buttons in front of me. I pressed one. The knives swapped places instantly. "Woah…" I pressed the second. One dissolved into a ball of light and entered the other dagger. It turned into a thin rapier. I pressed the second one again and the rapier shortened and the ball of light reappeared in my other hand, forming back into the green-yellow dagger. "This is cool!" I took a few practice swings.

"We'll take it." Oyami quoted a price and Naofumi threw a bag of coins onto the table. I slid the orange-blue dagger in my left sheath. "Uh, Naofumi, I'll need a new holster for the other dagger." Naofumi nodded and looked at Oyami. He tossed Naofumi a holster and Naofumi flipped him two slivers. "Here." I clipped the sheath onto my belt and slid the knife inside.

"Wave's in 20 minutes," Naofumi said. I sighed. We were prepared, but I felt a bit uneasy thinking about the wave. We stayed in Oyami's shop for now. A group of soldiers burst inside. It was the group from yesterday. "H-Here, Shield-san." He held out a bag of coins. He actually did it. Naofumi put the necklace in the boy's hand and took the coin. He did a little tapping and I saw the words "Squad Leader." flash up on Naofumi's eyes.

"Take this and use it to buy better equipment. We're going to be in the Northwest for today's wave. Get to the village of Eri as soon as possible." Eri? They're not going to be able to get there in time. That's where that man's mother lived. The one who we first transported.

"Five minutes," Naofumi said. We walked out. Filo transformed and readied her claws. I did a few more practice swings with my new blades. Raphtalia practiced too. I felt myself getting light, so I stuffed the daggers on my belt. Light enveloped me and I became weightless.

When the light cleared, we stood on a hill overlooking the village of Eri. The other heroes were behind us. Rifts tore the sky open and turned it crimson.

"Filo, if you're going to kick Motoyasu, then take off your claws and kick him at the holes in the sky. He can fight the monsters from there." Naofumi said. "Okay~" Filo chirped. She ran off. I heard a boom and then screaming. Filo reappeared beside Naofumi. She retied the straps on her claws.

"Okay, the first priority is to get to the village and start helping out." I nodded. "We'll get there faster in Filo," I said. "Don't you mean on? Filo won't fit us all, also." Naofumi said.

"I meant in." I slipped inside the mentioned bird's feathers. Naofumi sighed and then also slipped in. Raphtalia put herself beside me. I poked my head out of Filo's feathers. "Woah, this is nice and warm. Filo, to the village." Naofumi relaxed and sighed. See, I knew you'd enjoy 'Filo's inn', Naofumi.

We made it to the town just in time. Multiple lizard and dog-like creatures were assaulting the village. Villagers were just barely holding the line. I saw the old lady helping with the defense. "Ah, Saint-sama! Hello!" She called out. She then took the hoe in her hands and drove then end into a demon's skull. She was surprisingly brutal for a old mother. I watched in horror and fascination as she took down a large number of monsters in little time.

"Alright! I need all but the militia to evacuate now! We're here to help!" Naofumi yelled. Villagers immediately began to fall back and a small squadron of men stayed. The old woman embedded her hoe in one final demon then ran off with her son.

"Come on, Let's go help!" Naofumi waved us forwards and charged. This one's going to be interesting.

**A/N: Once again, I am so sorry that this came out a day late. I will be posting again tomorrow with another chapter and on Sunday, too. **

**If you're wondering, yes Ariete's blades are a reference. Ikaruga is a Japanese arcade game about switching polarities. I wanted Ariete to have two daggers instead of one, and this added an interesting theme to them. They will be getting a bigger role than just being Ariete's weapons, however. I may or may not have hinted what this role is.**

**Azentra: I will be deviating. This'll become less of an OC Insert fic and more of a complete AU soon. **

**See you next time for the rest of the wave and breaking glass.**


	19. Chapter 18

**A/N: This Sunday is going to be the 1 month anniversary of me starting this fic, so I'll be releasing the three special somethings that I mentioned before. **

**New Omake at the bottom!**

**By the way, as of the last chapter, we are past the anime. Spoilers for WN, LN and Manga. **

**Onto the fic!**

I don't think that fighting alongside a grandma would be something I would do. But here I am, an old lady hacking away at monsters beside me as I try out my new blades. She retreated with her son to get a new, sharper hoe and to force her son to fight. I occasionally saw out of the corner of my eye her bonking her son with the wooden end of the hoe and then yell at him to fight better.

"Faust Guard!" I felt a green aura envelop me and then a grazing cut bounce off my shoulder. I pressed the nonexistent left button of my blades and they switched places. I drove the longer blade forwards, then raked my other dagger across the chest. The lizardman fell. I risked a glance behind me. The villagers were mostly done packing up, only the stray person still running.

"Let's get to the next town! Militiamen, if you're up for it climb inside a carriage. We'll get you to the next town." A few nodded and ran to a carriage sitting nearby. Filo sliced through another line of demons then ran up to the carriage. Naofumi hooked the harness up. I ended my peeking by dodging a slash. I kicked the lizardman away and sheathed my daggers. "Ariete, Raphtalia, Let's go!"

I leapt back and slid into a space between two other militiamen. Raphtalia sat across from me. Filo took off with a burst of speed and kicked away a dog-headed monster in front of us. I still hadn't tried out that third button on my daggers. For a second, I thought I heard a voice coming from my sheaths. Odd.

The carriage got to the next town which wasn't as lucky as the last. Buildings were burning and screams filled the air.

FIlo stopped the carriage and we all got off as soon as possible. Raphtalia rushed forwards and blocked a sword from coming down on a mother and son. I threw one of my daggers. Aw, that was a mistake. I'll have to go retrieve that now. The dagger hit the demon square in the face. I decided to have fun with the dagger. "Use the force!" I quoted a play I had seen when I was still in Rurorona. I waved my hand. The dagger came flying back. Uh, I totally meant to do that.

I tested out the daggers again. It seemed I could control them in the air at the cost of my mana. I flicked my wrist and opened gashes on three demons. The blue and orange blade slid back into my hand and I stabbed a dogman. It fell. I directed the green-yellow dagger. The blade cut the first demon's head clean off, then reversed and smashed the back of the second demon's head with the pommel. "Wahoo! This is fun!" I made them do a little spin and then put them back in my sheath.

Oh, shoot. I forgot to try that third thing again! Well, there is a new set of demons coming…

"Ariete, Come on! All the villagers escaped! We need to get to the next town." What? Already? It's been ten minutes. Aw… I wanted to test them out more.

We travelled to 3 other villages. I still hadn't been able to test out the third ability on my dagger. "Damn it! What are the other heroes doing? It's been three hours!" Naofumi yelled. He blocked another blow from the bear-like Cerberus in front of us. It had two heads and claws the length of Raphtalia's new sword. I moved my daggers again, raking them across the bear's back. It roared and then reared itself. The bear did a small leap then slammed down, knocking me to my feet. Raphtalia rushed in and embedded her sword into the bear. FIlo gave the head a swift kick, and I heard the sound of organs being sliced.

"Go Raphtalia!" I cheered. Naofumi rushed in to hold down the Bear's leg. I merged my daggers and put the thin rapier into the paw of the bear. It was now stuck. I quickly chanted. "Fire Zveite!" Flames sparked to life and them engulfed the bear. It fell on its side and roared. I pulled my rapier out and transformed it back into the two daggers. "We should get to the other heroes! They might be fighting something tough that Motoyasu can't flirt his way around!" Naofumi gave me an approving nod at my joke then frowned. "You think that the militiamen can hold on?" One of them answered for me. "We'll be fine here! Just end the wave!" Alright, that's settled. I jumped into the carriage we borrowed. Filo put herself in the reins and we took off. Raphtalia wiped her sword clean. "I need to figure out what this third ability is…" I muttered. Hopefully, I'll remember for the fight against whatever ends this wave.

We approached a battlefield. The trees were burnt to crisp, black stumps and adventurers laid either dead or passed out on the fields. "Woah," Naofumi said. Raphtalia and I looked up ahead. The heroes and their parties were all laying on the floor. Except for Motoyasu's party. They were fussing over their collapsed hero. He had bandages around his groin. Let's hope his girls don't notice us.

A lady in a dark silk dress held a fan. She was standing on the top of a small hill. "Oh, is that all this world's heroes are capable of?" We got off the carriage. "Ah, are you the fourth?" She turned around and held her fan by her mouth. The other heroes started to mutter things.

"My Chaos Spear didn't leave a scratch…"

"Meteor Bow should have finished her…"

"Meteor Sword is my strongest skill…"

I realized what had happened. This sole girl defeated two parties and three heroes. I doubt Motoyasu's party is anything more than a cheerleading squad, though. "The heroes of this world seem to be all bark and no bite." The woman let a small tornado take down one of Ren's recovering companions.

"Master, Filo thinks this woman is very strong." The bird's harness came off. I could also sense the power coming from her. "This woman is far stronger than any normal demon," Raphtalia stated. I nodded. Naofumi stepped forwards. Another tornado swept by. He dodged, but Motoyasu's companions didn't. They all landed in front of him. He stepped on Short-Hair's face. I smiled and did the same. "Is that how you treat your companions?" The woman's eyebrow raised. "Sorry, but you couldn't be more wrong about that. These fools are not my companions." He started to shuffle his feet, stomping on Shorthair's face.

"Does it matter? What you are doing is unjust." Naofumi hopped off of Short-Hair's face. She twitched as I stepped off. "Speaking of unjust, this woman has done much crueller things. I've got a grudge to pay off. I'm just collecting interest."

"Master's like a villan~" Filo chirped. "Shut up." Naofumi flicked his head to glare at the bird and then turned it back. "Your actions are still not of a human with morals." Hmph. I'll show you morals. "Say what you want." The woman sighed then charged. She was fast, maybe faster than Filo. I jumped back as a shower of sparks flew from Naofumi's shield. The Shield had a scratch on it. Hero's weapons shouldn't be able to be damaged. "Careful, she's strong!" I got the message. Deflect, don't block. Raphtalia charged in. Her new sword shattered at contact with the fan. "Wha-" The iron fan swooped down. Naofumi came in at just the right time to block the hit. My ears hurt from the loud sound made at contact. It seems Raphtalia folded down her ears in time. Good idea, sis.

Naofumi cast Faust Guard on us all. The woman started to fly away. "Come on, chase her!" I hooked onto Filo and we charged forwards. She led us away from where the other heroes were. She stopped in a small meadow. The ground was immediately cleared of all life with a dark flame. Raphtalia had retrieved her backup sword. "Charge!" Naofumi yelled. He rushed in. The woman's Iron fan sparked against his Shield. Raphtalia deflected a blow, chipping her sword. I drew my daggers and let them fly towards the woman. She deflected both. I transformed it into the rapier form and stabbed it downwards. She held it back with a second fan. She let the rapier sink into the ground. I chanted. "Zweite Firebolt!" A bow of flame appeared in my left hand. I drew three fiery arrows one after another and shot them at the woman. One of her fans flew out of her hand, impaled by my arrows.

She drew a fan and threw it. I winced as a cut opened up on my shoulder. "Ow." I drew my blades back to my hands. My mana is drained, so I can't keep using them in the air. Time for close-combat. I dashed in and swiped at her legs. The daggers drew sparks against her fans. Filo yelled and I backed up. For a moment, she blurred. The woman did too, She slid back. Filo reappeared, panting heavily. "This woman is strong… she didn't fly away at Filo's attack."

The woman was also panting. A few cuts appeared on her skin, probably from Filo's new claws. Hah. Take that. "This power… It rivals the Sword Hero's." Raphtalia took the opportunity to thrust her sword. Her spare was cut in half. "What!?" That sword was magic iron. Should be really hard to break. The woman steps back and flies up. "This is enough. I'll end this." She starts to spin and thrusts her fans outwards. "Everyone, behind me!" Naofumi yelled. We gather behind him and he casts Shield Prison just before the wind reaches us. I feel the ball of metal groaning at the force. "Is everyone okay?" Naofumi turns to us. The pain from the gash in my shoulder finally hits me. I groan. "Her throwing fans really hurt…" My shirt was red and warm.

"We're alive, so yes?" No one laughs at my joke. Oh well, it wasn't that funny. Naofumi applies ointment and ties bandages on our wounds. My shoulder gash glows green as he changes his shield. It must have a healing aura. The wound begins to close. The howling outside dies down and the shields around us fall. "Impressive. You withstood my strongest attack."

Filo jumped at the woman. She started to attack, whittling down at the enemy. Naofumi said something to Raphtalia. She nodded and then held his arm. What was he planning? He changed his shield. Wait. No. No! "Why are you using that shi-" Raphtalia shushed me with a hand. "Trust him." I looked at her suspiciously. I looked at the shield. It changed again, this time to a new shield. It was black and had the head of a dragon on it. At the same time, Naofumi's armour changes. What?

Naofumi roars. Filo pulls back. The woman looks in surprise. I saw black begin to wash over Naofumi's eyes. I reached out, but he snaps his head to look at Raphtalia. She nods and smiles. Naofumi turns his head back. Tendrils of flame shoot out from the shield. Two wrap around Filo while the other three attack the woman. Filo's eyes turn to fire and she begins attacking again. "What! This power, her kicks are even heavier!" The woman yells in dismay. She seems strained, keeping up with the flaming tendrils and kicks. I draw my daggers. Hold on, the third button. I put my knives in the air and press it mentally. I hear a click and words start to flow in my head. "Kantan! Katai! Release!" As soon as the last sound leaves my mouth the daggers glow. I feel my mana drain completely and I fall to my knees. The glowing daggers turn into two boys. One has an orange outfit and a blue sword in his hand. The other has a green axe and yellow outfit. "Hey, Master. Have you heard us talking to you before?" The orange one says. His name is Katai. I don't know how I know that. Or how I know the other one's name is Kantan. Or why they're named weirdly. They charge at the woman. She looks in surprise. She barely dodges Kantan's axe. Katai puts a cut in her side. She blocks his next slash, but Filo's kick lands. She reels back.

"Shield Prison!" A ball of shields forms around the woman. Kantan, Katai and Filo jump back. "Change Shield, Bee Needle Shield!" The woman shouts. "Don't think I'll be defeated by such a weak-"

"Change Shield! Iron Maiden!" The shields dissolve, but a large coffin sprouts from the ground. The inside is spiky. It slams down on the woman. Katai watches intently as the coffin shrinks and disappears. The woman lays on the ground, panting. Two big holes and lots of small ones litter her body. "I'm dissatisfied today, but I must withdraw." She starts flying up. "You won't get away that easy!" Katai shoots up. His sword is deflected. Kantan jumps, but the woman is now too high. She moves towards the crack in the sky. "My name is Glass. Name yours, Shield Hero." Naofumi changes his shield back to the basic one. "Naofumi."

"Let me give you one piece of info. IT is foolish to think of me as a strong foe. Your true enemy lies beyond the boundary." Naofumi nodded. "Noted, Glass." The woman enters the crack in the sky and it closes. The other portals shrink and disappear and the sky returns to its natural colour. Kantan and Kantai return to their dagger forms and put themselves in their sheaths. "Sorry Master, we can only be out for so long." Their voices fade. I push myself up and look towards Naofumi and Raphtalia. We did it!" Raphtalia hopped in the air daintily.

And thus, the third wave ended.

**A/N: This one is slightly longer than usual, 2.5k. I know that what I've given Ariete is OP as hell, and don't worry. I will be buffing Raphtalia and Naofumi similarly, and also the rest of their foes. **

**I've decided to split this arc. Since it's 10 chapters already (The last one was seven) and originally covered chapters 24-78 of the WN and as such would be ridiculously long. So the next chapter on Sunday will be an Interlude. Also special things.**

**Azentra: As I said above, Raphtalia is going to get an OP weapon too. I will be focusing on Ariete's magic more in the future, since I've essentially been making her a brawler that sometimes sets things on fire for fun. Instead, she's going to be a pyromaniac with her sister, Naofumi and her daggers as her only friends. Also Filo. **

**I believe in canon (the WN) Naofumi mentions that he can sense where the wave will hit, approximately. I may be wrong, but it says that he senses it in chapter 52. I excluded the soldiers, mostly because I see them as annoying in the canon. My opinion though.**

**Onto the omake!**

Omake 8: Kitty Cat.

"Waaah!" I was running for my life. What was there was scary, was scratchy and chasing me. I burst out of the bushes and jumped over the fire to land behind Naofumi. "Help!" I pointed in the direction that the thing was coming from Naofumi readied his shield. Raphtalia drew her sword.

"Mrowwww~" I shook. "Make it go away!" I shouted. Naofumi's tense expression turned to one of confusion, then amusement. "Ah, Ariete. You're still badly scared of cats, right?" I shook my head. "I-It's not bad! I just have memories…" Naofumi laughed and then started petting the cat. I jumped back and hissed as he brought it near me. It purred and rubbed its head on Naofumi's palm. "He's tricking you into liking him!" I shouted. How could they trust that furry abomination?

"Oh come on, Ariete. It's just a little kitten. Pet it." He moved quickly and the cat was in my face. It licked me. I got scratched as I screamed.

**Next time, Shadows, Carriages and Gluttony.**


	20. Interlude: The Sword in the Stone

**A/N: Hi! If you read the new chapter of my other fic, you may know that this isn't Chapter 19. This is a rewrite of the previous interlude because I felt it wasn't very good. Quite bad, actually. As such, a correction in the form of this rewrite here is needed.**

**If you still see the last chapter, then don't worry. I posted this as a new chapter for it to be registered as such. The last one will be deleted.**

I allowed myself to fall back as the sky brightened. Filo followed after me. I didn't blame the bird. "Filo is tired…" So am I. So am I. I tried to move my legs to a different position, but they didn't move an inch. The transformation must've drained all my mana.

"Let's go see if we can harvest anything from the fish boss we saw on the way here." Naofumi pushed Filo and waved for me to get up. "Slight problem with that," I said. "You see, those two cute boys I summoned kinda drained all my mana. I'm a little paralyzed for the moment." Naofumi groaned and then slung my limp body over his shoulder. "Filo, over here." The bird finally rose from the ground and stood in front of Naofumi.

"Oof." I made a little sound as he shoved me inside Filo. Warm bird. My head stuck out of her side feathers. "You could have at least put me in upright," I growled. Naofumi looked away and whistled. Raphtalia fixed me and gave him a shoulder squeeze. "Ow! That was just a joke!"

We went over to a large white fish creature. Filo poked at it with her feet. "Huh?" Naofumi's hand passed through the fish. "How did you touch it?" He looked at Filo. "I used wind magic~!" Naofumi looked at the fish for a moment then waved. "Let's get the other heroes' weapons. We can use them to hack away at the thing." We dragged two heroes (Filo kicked Motoyasu's half-dead body to the fish) away. I gained feeling back in my body. Fluffy feathers. I slipped out of Filo and stood next to her. My legs were a little wobbly.

"You're okay to stand?" I nodded. Raphtalia looked at me with concern, then picked up the Sword Hero's… well, sword. I used Filo as support on our short trip back. Naofumi cut pieces of the fish off and fed it to his shield. He also fed Filo some scraps. "Tastes like slime…"

"Hold on, when did we ever encounter slimes?" Naofumi looked at Filo. I inched away from the bird. "Eh…" I remembered that trip. Filo ate slimes then bribed me with food later to keep quiet. What can I say, I'm easily bought with food. I sneaked over next to my sister as Naofumi began yelling. "Eh? Ariete? When did you get here?" I put a finger on my mouth.

We left the harvested body and returned to the village where the old mother we helped was. The volunteering militiamen fought off the remaining demons already, so we started setting up a kitchen and cots in the buildings. We helped carry wounded onto the cots. I was left with an extra hour walking around outside. I had already wrapped bandages around hundreds of wounds. The old woman was in there. Surprisingly few wounds were on her body. She complained to me about "younglings" these days being wimpy. She bonked her son over the head twice during her rant. I wondered what growing up like that poor guy would be like.

I told everyone I was going for a walk by shouting. "I'm going in the forest for a bit. Don't burn down the entire village!" I walked away. Nature used to calm me. Hopefully, it did this time.

I kicked a rock along with my foot. My mana had regenerated. Maybe a little practice would be good for me. I mean, I'm hearing voices from my daggers and thinking that they're boys. Ugh. I pulled out the green-yellow one. I glanced at it. "Definitely not a boy."

"Thinking about us, Master?" I dropped the dagger and yelped. "Wha?" The dagger floated in front of me I jumped back and drew the blue dagger. It flew out of my hand and floated next to the other. "What!?" I picked up a stick from the ground.

"Why are you holding a stick?" The second voice was deeper and more masculine. "What are you?" I asked.

"We're your daggers, Master! We're also guys, single and smoking ho-" I held back a laugh as the blue dagger bonked the other one over the handle. "Sorry, about my brother. Katai, at your service. The green-yellow idiot over there is my brother, Kantan." Ah. "I'm going insane now, aren't I?" I muttered. I tried to use my mana to wrestle the two back into my sheaths. Katai went in, but Kantan refused to go."No! Not in there! I don't like it!" I grunted and grabbed him by the handle. I shoved him in his sheath and he yelped. "Hey! Wait, Master!" I took him out and he sighed. I stabbed him in the dirt and then slid him back in his sheath. He whimpered.

Good. He shut up. I walked further along the path. A glint from the forest caught my eye. A sword was sitting in a stone. I walked up to it. I tried to pull it out, but it wouldn't budge. "Huh." I tried to use a think branch for leverage, but the sword still didn't move an inch. "Huh."

"I'll try, Master!" Kantan flew out of his sheath and started prying at the sword. It still didn't move. "This is… really hard!" He gave up. I scolded him like an insolent child, then re returned to his sheath.

I returned to the camp. Raphtalia was already asleep and Naofumi was on watch with the other militiamen. I decided to crash. I slipped off my armour and slid inside Filo. It's okay to treat myself once in a while, right?

I woke up to yells and shouts. "Why did you eat her, you stupid bird!?" Huh? "Filo didn't! She's right here!"

"Where!?" Naofumi yelled. I felt myself slipping. Oh no. Not again. I was promptly deposited onto the dirt in a shirt and panties. Everyone stared. "You know what, this has happened to many times for me to care anymore. I slipped on my skirt, gave the drooling men a glare (and a haircut) then finished dressing. Naofumi just returned to cooking without a single word.

Raphtalia came out of the building. "What happened?" She asked. I waved her off. "Nothing. There is something I found yesterday that I'd like for you to see, though." I showed her to the sword in the stone. "Huh. Weird." She pulled on the sword. It came out straight away. "What? I pried on it yesterday, and it didn't even budge!" I pouted.

Rphtalia was bragging, then we turned to look back at the stone. It had risen into the air. "Uh, correct me if I'm wrong, but stones don't do that, right?" Raphtalia nodded. Other stones gathered and fused with the original one to form a golem. Red eyes came from the head.

"Run!" I yelled. I dashed up a tree and Raphtalia ducked into a bush. I jumped between the trees, then smacked into a wall. "Ow," I said. Raphtalia had stopped next to me. "When did this rock wall get here?" She asked. Her answer came in the form of a stone hand chopping the forest in half. It landed right between us. "Ah!"

"We'll have to fight it!" She yelled. "How?" I pulled out my daggers. Last time I checked, the best way to deal with stone was to use a pickaxe, not a sword and dagger. Raphtalia left her sword at the village, so she was stuck using the one she just pulled. "There must be a weak spot somewhere! Find it!" I yelled. Raphtalia nodded from across the forest. I sent in my two daggers. "Wahoo! Let's do this!" Kantan shouted. He scraped across the front of the golem. Katai sliced at the legs. Both made barely visible scratches. "Wha-" Katai was smacked into a tree. "Don't abuse my sentient knives, you literal stonehead!" I yelled.

Kantan retreated at the sight of his brother becoming the bark of a tree. I pulled the blue and orange dagger out of the tree. No chips or scratches. Huh. Raphtalia was hacking away at the golem while concealed. I could slow the golem with fire, but that had the risk of burning Raphtalia. Urgh. I scanned the body of the golem. The eyes were the only thing that wasn't stone. "Raphtalia, keep the golem's hands busy!" I jumped into a tree. The golem slammed a fist into the ground. It didn't come up. I jumped up and threw the daggers. They hit the golem in the eyes. They were then ejected out and hit me in the stomach. "What!?" I yelled. I hit a tree. Ouch. That's gonna leave a mark. Raphtalia reappeared. She stood at the foot of the tree next to me.

"You okay, Ariete?" She asked. I gave her a thumbs up. She rushed back at the golem. I noticed a glowing pattern on her sword. I waited for her to slice the golem and then come over towards me. She was breathing hard. "I'm hitting him with all I can, but it's barely working." One or two gashes were left on the golem. "Hold your sword still for a second," I said. She looked at me, then obeyed. I read the inscription then stood up on a knee and whispered it into her ear. "Say it before you strike, next time."

She nodded and rushed back at the golem. She dodged a smash and a chop then ran up the golem's arm. "As source of thy power, I order thee, decipher the laws of nature and enlighten thy sword, Claidheamh Solius. Ars Tsuvait SteelNova!" She shouted. I watched as her blade turned to blinding light. It made contact with the golem. I heard a crumbling sound, then an explosion. The golem, as well as a few trees, turned into a powder. I coughed as a dust cloud covered the field. "Woah," Katai said.

Raphtalia landed and started marvelling at the sword in her hands. "W-Woah! This sword is great!" She recited the spell again and turned another group of trees into sawdust. I watched as she slowly deforested the area, leaving piles of wood dust behind her. Later, when Naofumi came to check up on us, he looked at the forest, then looked at me and then put his face into his palm. I didn't blame him.

**A/N: Yeah. A tiny bit short but whatever. I really wasn't happy with the last chapter, but since I already missed an update beforehand, I felt obligated to send it out anyway. I did remove Claidheamh Solius's power to transform, mostly because it's becoming boring for this fic. I will buff it beyond having a special spell for it, though. FIlo will get something too. **

**Azentra: Yes and No. It's more or less up to the daggers who they want to hear them. The way I named them was stupid, at least in my opinion, but hey, they have personality. **

**Come back next time for us finally getting to the part where I said we would be five chapters ago!**


	21. Chapter 19

**A/N: (3/22/19 Edit: Oh shoot! I thought I uploaded this chapter yesterday! Sorry!)**

**Heyo! I'm back. Hope the rewritten Interlude was better than the previous one. Yesterday's episode was also great. I also have a announcement at the bottom of the chapter. It does regard the update schedule.**

**I also realise I haven't introduced the metal carriage yet. Corrected here.**

**Also we hit 100 follows! Thank you all so much! I cherish each and every single one of you!**

**Enjoy the chapter!**

I kicked my legs around the back of the carriage. We had encountered knights at the village that ordered us to go to the castle. I grumbled. "Filo would be faster than this!" There was no exciting bumps or turns just, oh! We went over a rock. The most interesting part of the ride. Naofumi looked at Raphtalia, still drooling over the blade she got. Filo made the ground rumble as she practiced kicking for the next time we met Motoyasu.

"Explain to me again how we deforested the entire area around the village on accident." I assumed the question was directed to Raphtalia, but alas I must cover for my sister. "Raphtalia finds shiny thing. Shiny thing makes monster go dead. Raphtalia then tests shiny thing out. Shiny thing removes trees." I explained. I need to work on my mocking voice. It's not condescending enough.

Naofumi sighed and leaned back. He fell asleep. I didn't blame him. He's been awak for almost 2 days straight now. I decided to lean back as well and close my eyes. The comforting sound of wheels creaking, soldiers talking, and trees being sent into the sky lulled me to sleep.

I woke back up as we entered Castle Town. Filo had reunited with us, splinters littering her feathers. She shook them off, terrorizing the surrounding soldiers. "Filo, don't shake the tiny pieces of wood into the soldiers. They'll get cut." I said. "Yes, Ariete-onee-san,~" We followed the guards into the castle. "I'm sorry, but your companions will have to wait in the next room over." I grunted. "Me and Raphtalia go where he goes."

"Ah, it's fine." I looked over at Raphtalia. Huh? She sent me a look. I sighed and stepped back. "Make sure to abuse him for me." I patted Naofumi's shoulder then shoved him forwards. The door opened as he stumbled. Oh well.

The guards went inside and left Me, Filo and Raphtalia alone. I crouched down and lifted the rug, "Ariete, no." I looked back at Raphtalia. Her tail was wagging in annoyance. "What? It's not like I'm going to burn down the whole castle or anything. Just the flammable parts." She sighed as I poured a puddle of oil under the cloth. "Where'd you even get that? And- Wait, is that a tripwire?"

"I have my ways." I set the wire across the whole hall, and hooked it to strike a match. Raphtalia tried to stop me more than once, but I sent her a look. "Hey, Fun is Fun. This won't hurt anyone, maybe." I made sure the fire started away from the door and then moved towards it. That king isn't going to have a throne room, soon.

Naofumi came out of the throne room yelling. "That's my line!" The doors slammed closed. I stopped him from storming off. "Look." He glanced down and smirked. "It's untraceable." I said. His grin spread wider and we cautiously stepped over the wire.

We exited and went back to the old man's shop. Our carriage was sitting in the front, untouched. "Ah, is this Filo's new carriage?" Filo was poking her head into the back. I climbed up her feathers and glanced around the corner. A metal carriage was sitting in the back. I looked at it closely. It was sturdily made. "Ah, our new carriage is done!" Naofumi said.

Oyami came out of the front door and glanced at us. "Follow me." He said. Filo transformed and followed us in. Oyami led us through his backroom and out his backdoor. He led us to the metal carriage. "Ah! It looks so heavy!" Filo cooed. She started hugging the carriage.

"Do Filolials have a thing for heavy loads? I swear, she drew four carts of wounded people and their equipment back to a village just yesterday." Filo turned around. "They were too light!" Filo went back to drooling over the cart. I sighed. Seeing everyone around me drooling over something is taking a toll on my very limited mental health. We started moving everything between the two carriages and then set off for the jewelry merchant. He told Naofumi some things, gave us a job and we left him.

"Want to go to a lunch spot and eat?" Naofumi asked. Raphtalia nodded. Filo did too. We went to the same restaurant as we always did and sat at a table. I glanced up. A black haired guy and a blonde, yellow-wearing boy were talking at a table near us. "Damn Shield Hero…" The yellow one ground out. I ignored them.

We ordered. "One lunch set and three kids meals." I corrected him. "Two lunch sets, a kids meal and a extra large kids meal." Filo's too gluttonous to have a regular kids meal.

"Eh? Ariete! Three lunch sets and an extra large kids meal!" She wagged her tail in annoyance. I wagged mine back at her. The waiter looked between us and sighed. He scribbled in a notepad and then went to the kitchen. A few minutes later, the waiter came back with our food. I kicked back as he placed meat in front of me. "Waah! It looks so good!" Filo said. Filo tried to grab one of my pieces of meat. I pulled out Kantan and used the pommel to swat her hand away. I let it float in the air, swatting away more invading hands. "Aw…" Filo pouted.

"Don't touch Master's food! Also, Matser, I was having fun with Marco!" Huh? "Who's Marco, Kantan?" He pointed at his sheath. I looked inside. A face had been scratched into the leather. I sighed. "Ah! Onee-san's knife is talking!" Filo looked in surprise. I stuffed him back inside "Marco." That's an innuendo. Ha. I picked up my fork and started eating. I eavesdropped on the blonde and brunette from before.

"Itsuki-sama, a request to overthrow a lord in the north came in. He's been charging merchants with passes tolls and has been taxing people beyond the set limits." Huh. Are they talking about the village we visited before the wave?

"Hm. From the guild?" The girl who approached Itsuki nodded. He stood up. "Well, as they say, with great power comes great responsibility." Naofumi then spit out a mouthful of water. "Ewww! Naofumi!" I used a napkin to wipe my face. "That's gross!" Filo shouted. The blonde and black haired men came to our table.

"Is there a problem?" The blonde asked. "No, Itsuki. I just didn't think you were bitten by a spider. Also when did you two get out of the hospital?" We collectively raised question marks. "It's nothing." Naofumi said.

"We got out today. Don't change the subject. You stole the rewards of our work, didn't you?" the black haired guy said. "What? No. Maybe yours, but not Itsuki's." Naofumi replied. "Are you playing dumb?" Itsuki slammed his palm on the table. "You obviously stole our rewards."

Huh? The only things we've ever stolen is the dignity of a few poor souls, Motoyasu's chance at fatherhood and some stuff from bandits. "I'll explain."

Itsuki went on a rant about how he went on a pious and righteous mission to go begin a revolution in a country where the king had been charging high taxes. He then went to a guild where he received a request to overthrow another lord that was charging high tax. He sent a companion to then take the reward after overthrowing the lord. The reward was said to already have been taken by the Bow Hero himself. "Obviously it was you. You're the only one who would do such a thing."

"You know, Shogun-san," Naofumi started. I snorted. "You go around besting evil around the world, yet you never reveal your identity, so you can't take credit for what you do."

Itsuki looked taken aback for a second then got mad. "Sh-Shogun?" Naofumi closed his eyes and grunted. "You put a sword on your waist and go around pretending to be this righteous adventurer." Itsuki spluttered and started shouting incoherently at Naofumi. The other guy stepped in. "Itsuki, wait. Let Naofumi say something." Naofumi opened one eye. "Okay, then. Tell me, Itsuki, did you resolve the request as the Bow hero? Everyone knows it was the bow hero."

"No. I was keeping my identity a secret." He said. "You're the hero that overthrew the country in the north, right? Do you know what happened to the country?" Naofumi asked. "It should be prospering! I overthrew the bad king!"

"The people have been starving so bad a woman offered to trade her own life and dignity if I could feed her children." Naofumi looked down. I remembered which woman he was talking about. The woman said she would become his slave if he would just give her baby food. "Why!?" Itsuki cried.

"The king was bad, but the country had a famine. The head of it changed, but not the situation."

"This had nothing to do with me! Don't shift the subject!"

I facepalmed. Really? How immature is this guy? Is he really the bow hero? He could easily be younger than the volunteers from the wave. "Is there anything to prove that your companions was in fact associated with you?"

"He had a seal! A deed from the king himself! One of a kind!"

"Then I couldn't get it."

I heard a cracking sound. That was Itsuki's credibility breaking. I had already finished my meal while the two had a shouting match. I wiped my mouth and spoke as Itsuki opened his mouth to yell something. "Look, bow-boy. You proved him innocent with your own arguments. Give it up. Your hair's already short and I'd hate to have to give you a haircut."

"Shut up!" He glared at me then back at Naofumi."You changed your Shield to look like a bow then impersonated me! Only heroes can transform their weapons!" I flicked my two daggers out and held them in front of his face. "Katai, Kantan. Change, second form." The two glowed and fused. They became a rapier. "Transforming items aren't that hard to make." I said.

Itsuki's argument audibly crumbled. "B-But I…" The other guy butted in. "Give it up, Itsuki." He said. He then stepped forwards. "This is about the dragon in the east, isn't it?" the guy nodded. "Then this will be quick. Why'd you steal my request?"

"Ren, you slayed a dragon in the east, correct?" Ren nodded. "That dragon caused a plague that killed maybe a sixth of the population in a nearby village." Ren gaped at Naofumi.

"There's a new graveyard. Go see it for yourself." Ren looked down. "N-No way…" Huh. Maybe he's ignorant, not heartless. Interesting.

Ren begins to leave the restaurant. "Don't bother. I fixed the problem already. The corpse was buried and meat divided. The plague has been stopped."

"Is that so? Oh." Ren had turned pale. "You believe him!?" Itsuki yells. He seems confused. " He's got no reason to lie."

I tuned out the rest of the conversation, as it was boring. We left for a village Naofumi told us needed a shipment of stuff. We boarded the carriage and left the city. Filo chirped happily as she pulled the carriage along.

We made it to the village before nightfall. I waited outside as Naofumi rented a room. "Excuse me?" I turned around and opened my eye. "Huh? Melty?"

**A/N: Ah, this chapter took a bit longer to pound out than I wanted it to. This arc will be coming to a close in only maybe 5 or 6 more chapters because I'm bad at planning things. Oh well. **

**I will be changing my schedule to update only on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays from now on. The "every other day" schedule has me stretched a bit thin with my other fic going on. **

**I also thank my reviewers for giving me so much feedback. 30 reviews! Thanks to:**

**Azentra (Especially you for sticking with me the whole way through)**

**Hawa-chan **

**ZinMaster24**

**Ignaci0**

**Zaphot**

**Vaxadeki**

**LightDas**

**Have a Little Feith**

**Painkiller**

**And a few guests!**

**You all have helped we write so much more over the past month!**

**Next time, join us for a new Omake, Kidnapping accusations and a lifetime's worth of memories in a 2 day old carriage.**


	22. Chapter 20

**A/N: Ah, this chapter is gonna come out late. Going to a fair, followed by a 2 hour trip to the market followed by a party. **

**Enjoy this chapter!**

I looked at the princess. She had a serious look on her face and a scroll in her hand.

"When'd you get here?" I pushed off the wall I was leaning against and stood up straight. Melty unfurled the scroll in front of her.

"My father has put out a warrant for the arrest of the Shield Hero and his companions for Attempted Castration, Arson and Royal Disrespect." I scoffed as she listed off the charges. "Is Attempted Castration even a crime?" I asked. Melty didn't respond.

"I would first like to ask questions to the Shield Hero. Depending on his answers, I may pardon him. Please get him for me." I turned up my nose. "Nope." I then turned around and started to walk towards the entrance of the inn. "Hey! Wait!" I sense a guard approaching me. I glance back. His hand is approaching me. I knock it away in kick him in the side. "Ack!" He starts writhing in pain on the ground. The other knights draw their swords.

"Lower your weapons." Melty orders. The knights don't follow. One of them holds a crystal ball out. Is he aiming at me? Wait… Why does that Knight have his sword aimed at Melty?

"Air Strike Shield!" The sword screeches as it hits a translucent green shield. Naofumi rushes in from behind me and blocks another hit. I stomped on the knight that tried to grab me.

"How dare you kidnap a princess, you Shield devil!" The man beneath my foot yells. I stuff his mouth with my boot. He struggles. A quick kick knocks him out cold. "Filo, Raphtalia!" The two rush in. Filo rushes in and kicks away two of the soldiers.

"Retreat!" The one holding a crystal ball shouts. His men scramble away and climb onto horses. I rush my daggers forwards. "No, you don't!"

The saddles they ride on slip off as the harnesses are cut. The horses run away.

Filo catches the group in a tornado and we tie the group up. One steals a horse and rides away. "Argh!" I stomp my foot.

"Now, you. Tell us why you're trying to kill children now. Royalty, too." Naofumi started to interrogate the man. He recoiled. "As if I have anything to say to the Shield Demon." Naofumi sighed and then went to Filo. "Here's your midnight snack, Filo~" FIlo looked at the men hungrily. "Food!"

"God will save me… God will lead my soul to heaven…" Damn, how desperate are these people? Hey, I do remember there being a rule against murder in some "holy" text somewhere. God, if you exist, do please send these idiots to hell, thanks. 

Naofumi asks Melty for ideas, but she doesn't have a clue about what is going on. Wait…

"Hey, did Short-Hair put ya up to this?" I called out. The man glared at me. "I shall not answer to a filthy Demi-Human! May God send you to hell!" I scrapped the ground with my feet and put my hand on my dagger.

"Ariete, you're making a scary face…" I ignored Raphtalia and sent my daggers out. The guards yelped as they were left with peach fuzz on their heads.

"Shame I don't have a magical razor to really make ya bald, but hey, this will do." The man gritted his teeth. "My dignity is nothing! I will sacrifice everything for God's sake!" The four of us sighed in sync.

"Then how about this?" Naofumi pulls a necklace off the soldier. It is one with three weapons on it. "Hm. What stupid church are you from?" The man glared and strained against the rope binding him.

"How dare you mock the Three Heroes Church! Your Demonic soul will be sent to hell!" What is it with this guy and sending people to hell? It can't be that bad to be sitting next to a guy on a throne of skulls.

Naofumi places the symbol on the ground. "You have three seconds to talk. Ariete, prepare something." Hm? Oh. Haha, this will be fun. I begin to chant.

"Tsuvait Firebolt." A small arrow of flame fills my hand I let it warm me. "I-I have nothing to say to a d-" I interrupt the man by stabbing the string that holds the necklace. He screams as it burns.

"You bastaaaaard!" He yells. Naofumi begins stomping on it. The man now looks in fear. "S-Stop!"

"Hey, if God exists, and I am such a demon, why isn't he here now?" Naofumi says. The man looks in fear and then yells.

"I'll talk! Please! Stop!" Naofumi removes his foot from the charm. "Who ordered you to attack the princess?"

"T-The other Princess and the Pope himself! He ordered it as an act of God!" I facepalmed. Really? Assassination? Y'know Naofumi's nickname for Short-Hair is really accurate.

Naofumi sighed and then waved. I summoned a new ball of flame and incinerated the charm. The man started to scream. "Let's go," Naofumi said. We started walking away. "Hold on," He turned around and pointed. "Filo, kick the men away from the village. Take your claws off first."

"Hai~!" Filo slipped off her claws and sent the group of soldiers flying. Naofumi waved and the bird came back. "Let's get to Shieldfreeden right away and then class-up. We can begin to live there." Huh? Class-up? What's that? Question for another time, maybe, since we have our hands tied here. 

"Hey, brat. You go back to your father, tell him I attacked your guards and then threatened him." Naofumi said. He started pulling me and Raphtalia along.

"Master! Filo wants to help Mel-chan!" Filo said. Melty climbed inside Filo. "Oh great. We have new luggage. Ugh. We need to run, now!" I followed Naofumi. "Grab the most important things and start going!" I snatched my book and a regular dagger from the carriage and then ran. Filo tugged on Naofumi. "But my carriage!"

"Leave it behind, Filo!" Naofumi yelled. "I've made a lifetime's worth of memories with this carriage!"

"You've had it for one day!"

"Memories!"

"Filo, this is for Mel-chan's sake!" Filo went silent at that. At least she knows to put her friends first.

"Crap! They're here!" I turned around. A squad of knights appeared on horseback. "Quick! Inside Filo!" I yelled. We all slipped inside her feathers. "Run! Into the forest!" Naofumi shouted.

Filo took off, bouncing off trees and the ground. "Filo, don't use the trees! No use in running when there's a trail of stumps!" I said. Filo switched to using the ground. Melty screeched from the sheer speed. We might be two or three kilometres away already. FIlo stopped at a small clearing. It was the one near the village with the dragon was. "Haah… Filo, tired." Filo transformed into human form and promptly fell asleep in the grass.

"Great. Bounty on our heads and brats to take care of." Naofumi complained. "Trash would even sacrifice his daughter to kill me."

"Father would never do such a thing! That… the soldiers said it was the work of my sister." Melty's head drooped and she held her hand to her chest.

"Assassination for the throne, huh?" Melty nodded.

"Mother always said that sister would do anything to get her way… Father never listened to her." Melty sunk to her knees. Huh. She looks depressed.

"You mother was the one with the accent?" Huh? What woman with an accent? Maybe I should pay attention more often… Nah, that's too much effort. I could use that effort to shave heads.

"No. that's a body double she has. She is the one with real power and doesn't stay in the capital often. She deals with other countries." Melty said softly. Naofumi quirked an eyebrow.

"Huh? What's that?" Naofumi asked. "Melromarc is Matrilineal. The queen decides the successor." Naofumi snorted then burst out laughing.

"W-What!? What's so funny?" Melty asked.

"Trash married into royalty! Hahahaa!" Melty started to get mad. "Don't insult father!"

"Hey, it's alright, he abandoned you already. " Naofumi said while smirking. Why is he winking? Are those finger guns? What's with the salesman pose? He looks kind of like the slave trader…

"Father wouldn't abandon me! I know it!" Melty started wailing. She began to hit Naofumi with soft punches. " He's right! You are a demon!"

"Finally acting your age, huh?" Why are you so happy about it, Naofumi? "You shouldn't make children cry," Raphtalia said. "Ah, let him. It's funny after all."

"Ariete!" Raphtalia scolded. I turned away with a smirk. "Ah, fine. Can't your mom fix this?"

"She's in some other country right now. She's trying to avoid wars with other countries." Melty rubbed at her teary eyes. Filo woke up and immediately rushed to comfort her friend.

We travelled a bit farther northeast. We were going to escape to Shieldfreeden. Hopefully, they won't send us back. I peered through a bush.

"The Shield Hero is trying to escape to Shieldfreeden! Do not let him pass!"

"How do these guards know where we're going?" Naofumi whispered. "Let's turn back and find a way around them."

"Master, look!" FIlo called out. She pointed.

The other heroes stood with their companions surrounding us.

"Release Princess Melty!"

**A/N: Alrighty, this one was a doozy to write. Mostly because my schedule today was:**

**12:00 PM Wake up**

**12:30 PM-4:00 PM Go to a fair**

**4:00PM-8:30 PM Work**

**Oh well. I am considering whether to follow the LN/Manga or WN starting from the Calmira Island Arc, mostly because the two diverge right at this point. I'll probably decide it with a poll.**

**Lots of reviews for the last chapter!**

**Azentra: I have pushed back that conflict to "Book 2" of this fic. It will happen, but just later.**

**Zaphot: Yeah. A review and a re-read made me want to change it. The old one was quite boring in my opinion. Very telly and not showy**

**Unwanted Writer: Sorry, but it's just a habit to write in the first person. I'll try to include more third person limited over Naofumi's shoulder in the future, but no promises. Hope the new multi-part Omake will satisfy your third person thirst.**

**Ignaci0: Thanks!  
**

**Jamki: Thanks! I've only been able to keep up writing like this because of my lack of social life and other hobbies.**

**Omake Time!**

Omake 8: Regression Part 1 (Not Canon):

Naofumi was no lolicon. In fact, he wished to have few or no children in his future. He called upon this memory as he looked in front of him.

"Filo, please explain this to me." He looked at the two very young girls in front of him and then the bird.

"Well, Ariete-Onee-san and Raphtalia-Onee-chan were looking for things and found a good looking mushroom. They tried eating it and then they turned into really small Ariete and really small Raphtalia."

Naofumi sighed and looked back at the two girls in front of him. "Upsy-Daisy!" The little Ariete said. It was gonna be a long day…

**The above Omake was inspired by a certain other Omake by a certain other author who may or may not have their work being produced as an anime currently.**

**Next time, we got Kicks, Flips and a Nice Guy!**


	23. Chapter 21

**A/N: Spring break is over, back to classes and finals coming in less than two months.**

***Sigh***

**As you may have noticed, I have recycled lines from the Manga rather than the WN. This is mostly because I'd like to get to the meat of this arc, and the surface skin is quite thick in the WN. The Manga's version is shorter, so I'll be using it.**

**Needless to say, enjoy the chapter!**

I looked between the heroes and their parties. Ren and Motoyasu's parties flanked Itsuki's and the three "heroes" were standing in the front.

"We're not exactly holding her hostage, so we can't let her go," Naofumi said. Melty retreated beside Filo.

"Liar! We have proof! You have no justice!" Motoyasu stepped forwards and flung his arm out. I can't think of a word to describe it… for some reason the word "Objection!" comes to mind. Huh.

"What proof do you have!? I am with him of my own free will! Where does your confidence come from?" Melty yelled. The other heroes blabbed about something. They're starting to look like tamed usapirus, yapping away for who knows how long.

"Heroes, as you can see, I am safe. The shield saved my life!" Itsuki and Ren stepped back, dumbfounded. "There is a conspiracy to take my life. Believe me. What does the Shield Hero gain from taking me? Put your weapons away." Huh. The queen must've raised her well. Unlike Short-Hair.

"Oh, you poor thing! You've been brainwashed by the shield demon!" Oh for Raphtalia's sake… Really? Your chestnut sized brain couldn't come up with a better excuse?

"Heroes! Do not forget, the demon has a Brainwashing Shield!" Short-Hair declared. I would stick my face into my palm, but at this point, I don't know if I'd be able to pick my face back up.

"Oh, come on…" Raphtalia seemed equally done with this stupidity.

"The church said a month ago that the shield started to brainwash people for his own benefit. Isn't it odd how some of the population has begun to support the-"

I cut Short-Hair's speech off by stuffing her mouth with the pommel of Kantan and using Katai to give the woman a "trim" of a haircut.

"Master! It's disgusting in here!" Kantan shouted out. The other heroes looked at Short-Hair and the talking Kantan while I stifled a laugh. I called back the two knives and held them tight. Ew… it's wet.

"Blegh! You Bitch!" I chuckled while Baldy screamed at me. Baldy. Hm. That's a good name. Baldy.

"Funny you say that, Bitch-san. If I could really brainwash people like that," Naofumi snapped his fingers. "Then why would you not be brainwashed right now? Also, wouldn't the other heroes have it too!?" Naofumi stomped his foot.

"Think about it! If you actually believe the truth for once, I'll give Melty back!" Both the girl and the heroes were surprised at that. I was too. "What? Naofumi!" I said.

Naofumi ignored me. "Fine," Ren says. "However, we still need time to decide the truth. You're coming with us if that's the case." Motoyasu looked shocked.

"Ren!? What're you doing?" He shouted. He vaguely thrusted his spear at Naofumi while going on a tirade of insults and name-calling. Ren shut him up before I did.

"It's fine," Ren said.

"All I care about is your safety, Melty. Come with us… to home." I heard a rattle in the back of my head. I glanced around. Nothing. Huh. I do see the threat behind those words though.

"No." Melty looked at the ground and twisted the hem of her dress. "I think… I think they'll kill me one way or another." Ah. This kid must have the rattling too.

Naofumi clenched his hand and his eyebrows furrowed. He stepped forwards. "We won't go with you. I made a promise to protect her. You can't do that, hell, you can't even defend a village." He put his shield in front of a surprised Melty.

"You won't be seeing her if you let yourself be controlled by the real brainwasher here." He glared at Bitch-san who was glaring at me while rubbing at the smooth skin on her head. Y'know, people look either intimidating or ridiculous when bald. Baldy was the latter.

I laughed as the other heroes started to shout at Naofumi. "Be reasonable! Don't you trust us?" Itsuki, you literally went on a rant accusing Naofumi of theft of a reward he couldn't claim in any way, shape or form. Trust us first, then we'll trust you. Naofumi shot back a quick retort and then turned.

"Filo!" Filo promptly transformed into bird form. We climbed inside, or in Naofumi's case, on top.

"You think you can escape so easily?" Baldy shouted. Filo readied her feet. "Go!" I yelled. Filo jumped up, but I felt a slight jerk in our movement.

"Gotcha!" Motoyasu said. I popped my head out of Filo's feathers. A chain and a shackle were attached to Filo's foot. Rather than a poof like usual, Filo transformed with a thudding noise.

"Filo!" I slid onto the ground while Naofumi landed belly-first. Raphtalia landed next to him.

"Argh! I can't get it off!" Filo tugged at the shackle on her foot. "What is it?" I whistled. Filo turned her head towards me.

"Use this! Quickly!" I tossed her a small grey crystal. She caught it.

"Filo-chaaaan~!" Filo looked up slowly. Motoyasu snaked his arms around her. "I gotcha!" Damn it!

"Crystal, Filo!" She nodded in my direction. A faint glow came from her hand and then her hands turned white. Gloves materialized on top of them.

"Haah!" Filo tried to punch Motoyasu, but she missed. He held her out, so she couldn't hit him well.

"Let her go!" Melty rushed forwards and held out her hands. Is she a magic user? "Hey, Naofumi's the bad guy." Motoyasu seemed to take her outstretched hands as an invitation. He grasped one of them. "It's fine. Come with me and Filo. I like feisty girls." Oh god. That's creepy. I swear, I can see the letters "Desperate" hanging above his head.

She yanked her hand back and began an incantation. I think my guess was right. Water droplets collected near her hands. "Zweite Aqua Slash!" A blade of water went at Motoyasu. It went slightly left of him and sliced a tree.

"Waah!" Motoyasu jumped back as splinters flew. I send my daggers back out. "Kantan, keep him there. Katai, make sure your brother is doing his job right."The green and yellow dagger gave me the equivalent of a pout and then flew away. "Okay, Master," Katai said, then he flew over to his brother.

"Are you trying to kill Filo-Chan!?" Motoyasu shouted. A weak Filo was still trying to punch at him.

"You better let her go!" Melty yelled. I noticed a flickering ember pass me by. Wait… I glanced at Baldy.

"Melty!" I dove at her and pushed her to the side. "Faust Darkness!" I yelled. The area around us began to grow dark as if it were night. The bright embers sizzled out, but a flame still shot by us.

The darkness broke and we rolled to the side. The flame was stopped by a shield now. "You don't even hold back against your sister, huh?" Naofumi looked like he wanted to spit on the ground. "I've dealt with fire before. Thanks to a little brown haired girl over here." I smiled at the reference.

"Myne! Are you trying to kill princess Melty!?" Itsuki shouted.

"Melty's been brainwashed already! She's attacked Motoyasu!" Baldy yelled back. Tsk, Tsk.

"If so, then why'd you hire soldiers to kill your sister in the first place?" I shouted. Dead silence.

"W-What did you say?" Itsuki asked.

"What, you didn't know? We interrogated a soldier. He said the church and Baldy here conspired to kill the princess 'for god' or something." I pushed myself off the floor and dusted my skirt.

"Want proof?" I slipped a clear crystal out of my pocket and held it out. I tapped it. It glowed and then opened.

"_I'll talk! Please! Stop!" _

"_Who ordered you to attack the princess?"_

"_T-The other Princess and the Pope himself! He ordered it as an act of God!"_

The forest goes silent. "Myne… what did you do?" Motoyasu said shakily. He put Filo on the ground.

"S-She manufactured that! That's a fake!" Baldy didn't seem so confident now. "Myne, I'm going to have to ask you to step back here." Ren ground out. His eyebrows were pointing downwards and he had his hand tightly gripping his sword. Oh boy, this is getting interesting now.

"W-What!? I am your ally! You can't imprison me! I did nothing!" I sucked in air and withheld a hearty laugh. Mistake, Baldy. Mistake.

"We never said we were going to imprison you," Ren said. He looked even more suspicious and angry now. "Ehhh…"

"Hyaaah!" I snapped my head towards Motoyasu. He was getting a brutal uppercut from a gloved Filo. The chain he was holding flew away from his hand and then shattered. Huh. Only the heavy ball remained.

"Filo, Let's go!" Naofumi shouted. He hopped on and I scrambled over. Melty was following me, running as fast as she could. "Don't let them escape!" Baldy put her hands up for another spell. Damn it!

"Filo! Run left! Raphtalia, do something!" Filo dodged left, avoiding a beam of fire. I slid under it with Melty. Raphtalia was the only one on the other side of the flame. The beam was now incinerating the treeline.

"Claidheamh Solius! Lend me your strength and extend a blade that harms all but mortals! Zweite Mortal Steel!" When'd she learn that one? Her blade nearly doubled in size and glowed a bright green. She rushed forwards and thrust at Baldy. Wait, by going through the incantation…

"Myne!" Motoyasu yelled. Raphtalia swept her blade up. I noted that no blood came from it. "The blade doesn't harm people, only everything else. She's fine." Ah. Like I thought, it won't hurt her, she'll only have her concentration broken. I glanced back towards Melty, who was watching it all intently.

"Raphtalia!" I moved my head back just in time to see Raphtalia dodging a fireball. There's no way that came from Baldy.

"The filthy Demi-Human killed Princess Myne! Kill her! Charge!" I heard the shouts and battle cries of an army. They rushed in.

"Melty! Into your friend now!" I pushed her into Filo. She had already transformed. I grabbed on and held a hand out for Raphtalia. She took it and we took off at top speed. I pulled her into the safety of the feathers. The soldiers chased after us for a little while more but they seemed to tire out. They lost us as we dodged between trees.

We stopped at a clearing. The sun was setting and darkness was setting in.

"Hello, Zir." I jumped at the voice and drew a dagger. A black-hooded woman slipped out of a tree. "Who are you!?" I yelled.

"Calm down, Ariete. Why are you here, Shadow?" Naofumi asked. What? Did he know this woman?

"I have been watching, zir." What's with that accent?

"Where have you been, then!? Look what happened to the princess!" Naofumi shouted. The shadow held up a finger. "I cannot tell you that, zir. We have secrets of our own."

"And what are you? Why are you here?" I asked. "The shield has been of great service to this country. The queen only asks for him to help in stabilizing and rationalizing it."

I nodded. "I believe you should meet the queen, zir. She is right here." She unfurled a scroll with a map on it and pointed to Siltvelt. "What!? That's in the opposite direction!" Naofumi said.

"That is where the queen is currently. And, they will not be looking for you there. You have sowed the first seeds of doubt, madameze," She pointed to me. "However, it will take time for those seeds to grow, Zir." I nodded.

"I must go for now. Shadows have their own business. It is not much, but here are some zupplies. I wish you well, Zir." The shadow retreated to a tree and silently exited the forest.

"Huh. Well, I guess we're going to Siltvelt." Naofumi said. I then sniffed something. Smoke. Did Raphtalia start the fire early? I turned around. No. The sky is dark, but why does it look like the sun is rising in the north?

"Fire!" I yelled. Naofumi turned around. There was smoke floating up from the other side of the forest. "Damn it!" He threw the already gather firewood in the bush and then quickly rubbed over footprints. "Filo, we need to get going!" Naofumi said. Raphtalia climbed in. followed by Melty. Lots of transport via Filo's Feathers today.

"You think we'll be okay?" I looked at my sister. She looked scared again. I put an arm on her shoulder. "Yeah, We'll be okay."

**A/N: And another plot point bites the dust! Ah, It feels nice to make it to 50k with this chapter. I'll officially be beating NaNoWriMo length at that point. Long ride to get here, huh?**

**I do wanna clear one thing up: **

**Rather than having one 60-70 chapter fanfic (which might scare people off) I'll be splitting this into Book 1: Twinning, Book 2: Turtling and Book 3: Home. If you've read the WN, It's not too hard to approximate where each book lands, but I'll say it anyway.**

**Book 1 (This fic)**

**Covers the beginning all the way to the final battle with the church.**

**Book 2 (The next fic)**

**Covers the Calmira Island and Spirit/Ocean turtle Arcs.**

**Book 3 (The fic after that)**

**Covers the beginning and events surrounding Rock Valley.**

**This is my rough plan for where this fic goes. I will have a bit of a hiatus between books just so I can work on other things in the meantime and possibly do something else…**

**Azentra: Ah, I didn't know the WN finished! Good to know that. I explained Book 2 above. I do have plans for the queen, however.**

**Guest: Thanks! I do my best. I write as I go and retcon things later, so maybe that's not so good, but it's fine.**

**Tune back in for Nice Guys and Turning back the clock!**


	24. Chapter 22

**A/N: I have been getting into a new manga series (Domestic Na Kanojo) and it's quite enjoyable… and spicy. There's my rec if you don't have, much to do in your free time. **

**As I said in last Thursday's chapter, there won't be a chapter on Friday, instead, it'll be on Saturday. **

**Enjoy!**

"Filo! Stop!" The bird skidded to a halt. Naofumi ordered for her to transform and for us to hide in a bush. I looked around. Ah, a villager. He was a wolf demi-human. He was running with a large bucket of water behind him.

"They're trying to put out the fire," I said. The forest was divided by a road, and not far from it was a town. A large cathedral, no, a castle stood over the horizon. We sneaked further forwards. A group of demi-humans were watching the blaze from afar while loading a carriage. Another carriage parked behind it had large tanks filled to the brim with what I assumed to be water. More demihumans were filling buckets and rushing into the forest.

"We can ask them to sneak us into the town," Raphtalia suggested. Naofumi looked at her. "Are you sure?"

"Don't worry, it'll take you into the mansion safe and square." Melty shuffled next to us. "It's my carriage, don't worry." I whipped around, followed by Naofumi and everyone else. "What!?"

The surrounding trees were blasted away. I held my hand over my mouth and tried to wave away the dust cloud. It cleared and a young-looking man with spectacles appeared. We were unharmed, but I drew Katai anyway. "Who are you!?" I shouted.

"It's time we met again, Shield Hero." That voice…

"You're from Seatteo-sensei's court, aren't you?" I asked. He nodded. "I used to be his advisor." I looked down. "I'm sorry about what you had to go through." He said. I nodded but kept my head facing the floor.

"You're that guy who bought accessories from me!" The man also nodded. "It may have been overpriced, but that jewel has a unique charm to it. I am satisfied with my purchase."

"I'm sorry for your loss, sir." Raphtalia stepped forwards and bowed. Huh? What is she… Oh. It must've been an auction night. I bowed as well. "Please forgive my master."

"Huh? What?" Naofumi looked at us. I cracked and let out a snigger. "Don't apologize!" I burst into laughter and Raphtalia giggled softly.

"Let's talk more at the mansion. I won't report you." He led us towards a carriage and we rode towards the central castle I saw in the distance before.

"Master, where are me going?" I shushed Kantan. I whistled and looked away as the nobleman stared. He shook his head and smiled.

"I apologize. I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is Enrikas Jelsohart." I perked up. "Jelsohart? You would happen to be Lilika's…"

"Ah, Are you an old friend of Lilika? She's my daughter." He said.

"Really? Is she in town?" He nodded. I felt my tail swish against the back of the carriage we were in.

We got to our destination quickly and got off the carriage. Two maids and Enrikas showed us to a room. "The fire seems to have been put out by my townspeople. They're saying that the Shield set it to erase his presence." Naofumi made a 'tsk' sound.

"See, your sister did exactly what I said she would," Naofumi said. Melty pouted and sat down at a table. Enrikas leaned against the wall and gazed out of the window. "I have been working against the Church's shadows. They have been following your trail. I recommend you stay here for the night." He was right, the sun had set and the only light right now was from lanterns.

"I have a room set up for you 5. The maid will guide you there." He pointed to me. "Lilika will be back from the scribe's office in the morning." I nodded. "Maids, please lead these people to their room." A pair of maids motioned for us to follow.

They showed us to a room with five beds and a single window. "We shall serve you dinner in a minute. Please wait." The maids said. Naofumi held up a hand. "Allow me to use the kitchen." The maids nodded and one of them headed out. The other waited for Naofumi. He exited the room with the maid.

"Ah… a bed is so comfy…" Filo immediately went out cold on one of the beds. I flopped onto another. "Mmm…" Feels nice. Warm.

"Naofumi's probably in the kitchen cooking just so he can make sure there isn't poison," I said. Raphtalia sighed. "He is paranoid, but it isn't unjustified. We are fugitives." I turned over and slipped my book out of my back pocket. A corner of the cover had been folded over. I folded it back. A white line covered that part of the illustration. Awww. This was brand new…

I read until Naofumi came back into the room with a cart of food. Plates sat on the shelf below a serving tray. It looked like fish and veggies today. They had a light golden brown crust on them. I grabbed a fish, some veggies and a piece of bread. The fish made a crunch as I bit into it. "Mmmmm… Master's cooking is tasty…" Filo sat back for a second then began to devour her food. Melty ate with table manners and watched her friend down all her vegetables in one bite. I watched with an amused smile.

We finished our meals. "I'll take first watch. Naofumi, you get some rest." Raphtalia said. I flopped back onto the bed and Naofumi did the same. Unlike him, I stayed awake for a little longer.

"Can't sleep, Melty?" The princess shook her head. "Not tired." I watched under the guise of sleep.

"You should sleep when you can." Melty looked down and started to swing her legs. "Raphtalia-san, should I just go back to my father?"

"Huh? Isn't that dangerous? There are people close to him trying to take your life."

"I obviously don't want to go back to them, or those near my sister. Your sister proved she wasn't to be trusted. I just feel like I need to do what I should be doing. Being loyal to my father and friendly with my sister. But, I can't. I'm sure Naofumi would think I was stupid." I… don't have words for that.

"That isn't true. Naofumi-san has been through a lot. He looks cold, frightening and cautious, but he's kind underneath. He sees the truth, and I'm sure he sees your seriousness." Melty turned her head to look at Raphtalia. She then looked back towards the ground. "You and your sister are the same age as me, right?" Melty asked. "Yes,"

"It doesn't feel that way. You're more mature than me." I took the opportunity to slip out of the bed and creep silently towards the pair. "Lately, I feel like all I do here is yelling at Naofumi-san. It's like I've become selfish."

"Hey, don't feel that way. We all like to yell at Naofumi sometimes." The two jerked and looked at me. I was sprawled behind Raphtalia and Melty, on Melty's bed. "What? It's true."

"Since when have you been up!?" Raphtalia asked. I waved her off. "Long enough." I faced Melty. "You're just finding out your words to speak, Melty. You yelling is good. You're taking the words you used to keep in and letting them out."

I pointed my thumb at Raphtalia. "A certain tanuki girl here can't find the words to say 'I love you, Naofumi' so she's just here, leaving the problem unresolved." Raphtalia flushed. "People like you, me, her and everyone need to find those words. The words they want to say." Melty looked at me, then chuckled.

"You try to burn down the palace for fun, then you act as mature as that?" She laughed. Raphtalia joined in. "H-Hey! I had a grudge!" The two ignored me and continued laughing. I sat up and whispered into Raphtalia's ears. "Confess to Naofumi first, then tease me. I'll allow it." Her cheeks when from pink to red, then she looked at me confused. "You? Give permission to tease?" I nodded. "Unlike me, I know," I grunted.

"By the way, I'm heading out," I said. "Huh? It's still night." Raphtalia looked as I slipped out of the bed and started walking to the door. "I have business to address. Tell Naofumi I'll be back before noon." Raphtalia said something else, but I closed the door before I could hear it.

I went through a few hallways and found the exit. I looked across the town. The only light came from the moon and a rare lantern. Not a single soul was walking around. I continued down the steps.

"A scribe would be near the castle, right?" I thought out loud. I looked at the signs. None said scribe. I wandered through the streets. I looked at the signs and the maps, yet none had any mention of a scribe. I glanced up to see the rising sun. It's already dawn? Shopkeepers began to open up storefronts and stalls. I continued walking around aimlessly. I retrieved a silver coin from a pouch in my cloak. Thanks, bandits.

"One skewer." I walked up to a stall and slid the coin over. He took it and put a pile of copper coins on it. I swept them into my pouch. I continued my search with a skewer in hand.

"Ariete?" I looked around. Where had that voice come from? "Ariete!" I looked to my left. A little girl with light blue ribbons in her hair was jumping near the side of the street.

"Lilika!"

* * *

The carriage rattled along. Inside, a fat man and another thin, yet strong-looking man sat. A soldier guided the carriage.

"Well, well, well, brother. I hear one of your escaped ones is with the Shield Hero." The fat one says. He rubs his hands together. "Ah, I think I know the one. Good fighter, she was." He cackled. "Zeltbur has a new coliseum I hear." The fat one twirls a rosary necklace around his neck.

"Perfect place. My little army needs new meat to grind." The thin man stood up and goes the back of the carriage. He looks at the cart being towed behind it. Children lay in cages, some demi-humans, some beastmen and some human children.

"Rise, my army. You'll be getting a new older sister soon."

**A/N: Ah, canon deviation is fun to write up. Especially when you write without knowing what's gonna happen. Pantsing is better than planning in my opinion.**

**This chapter does introduce a few links and a little more insight into the upcoming chapters. I didn't know the name of "Nice Guy" and the wiki says that he was unnamed in the LN and didn't appear in the WN. I am going to be returning to the WN as soon as Fitoria enters the picture. So another chapter or two of manga-based stuff.**

**Azentra: The pope is coming, the pope is coming. I do like the daggers since it's a unique weapon for Ariete. Since Raphtalia and Filo get Vassal Weapons, why not Ariete? I'd rather not shoe-horn in another one later or take it from another person.**

**Ignaci0: Thank Reddit for that. A post convinced me to split it up.**

**Omake Time!**

Omake 8: Regression Part 2 (Not Canon)

"Shield boy, this is not my problem." Oyami looked at his customer. He was holding what looked like 2 toddlers with racoon parts stuck on. One was sucking on the pommel of a dagger like it was a pacifier and the other was whining and grasping for a sword on his wall.

Oyami felt bad for his customer. Not too bad though. "This is payment for that charred wood I had to replace."

"Come on, Oyami! I can't fix them like this! Babysit them!"

"No!"

**This Omake is sponsored by Lolification Mushrooms Inc.**

**Next time, Revenge.**


	25. Special Chapter 23: Past

**A/N: Here we are. A special chapter. More or less, the same as a regular chapter but it gives me an excuse to name it. **

**We have hit 100 faves! Thanks! It is really nice to see that big number there.**

**I may be posting this to AO3 in the future (My invite came in today) so if you prefer to read in the Epub format (which AO3 allows you to download a fic in) then head over there when It's released. I'll post it soon.**

**For readers of my other fic, which also now has 100 faves, Chapter 3 is coming soon. I migrated the project to a writing software called bibisco and am working on it there now. It is coming.**

**Other than that, enjoy!**

"Lilika!"

I ran towards the girl with the blue ribbons in her hair. She ran towards me. We collided into a hug. Her arms around my stomach, mine around hers.

"Ariete! I thought you died in the wave!" Lilika said into my cloak. I shuffled us into an alley.

"I thought I did too, Lilika." She let out a short laugh. We separated. She then looked at me up and down. "Aren't we the same age?" Lilika said. "I'm a companion of one of the heroes. Levelling does make you grow…"

"Whaaat!?" Lilika dropped her jaw. I nodded. "Yep, Shieldy, me and Raphtalia."

"Wait, Shield?" I nodded again. "Yeah, the Shield Hero." She looked at me with surprise, then confusion.

"I thought you said you were the companion of a hero."

"I am."

"The Shield? Him a hero?"

"Yes. We've saved villages, y'know."

"Didn't he rape a girl?"

"Not true."

"Huh."

Lilika looked at the ground, then studied my face. She then shook her head and sighed. "Are you sure?" I nodded. "I'm going to believe you, just once." She shook her head again and muttered something under her breath. I didn't catch it.

"Hm? Did you say something?"

"It's nothing."

I looked at her. She was similar in age to Melty and me, and still the thin, brown-haired writer I had always known. I noticed the crowds in the street had split to the sides of the street. Was there a parade? I glanced out.

"I am here to deliver God's judgement upon the evil lord of this town!" Wait, no. No, no, no, No! A fat man was standing atop a carriage The demihumans looked at him with contempt, but none made a move. I looked into the covered part of the carriage.

"I must present my brother to you all! Meet Zekiral! He gestured his hands to the carriage and a thin man stepped out. It's _him. _Even with a hood on, I can tell it's _him._

"Lilika, sorry about this, but you're going to need to hold on. She opened her mouth to say something, but she was already over my shoulder and yelling by the time sound could make it out. I dashed between buildings and up staircases. A leap took me onto a rooftop.

"Ariete! Put me down!" I ignored Lilika's words and jumped to another roof. She yelped as we went over the open air. I slid down the saltbox house and onto a garden. I complied with Lilika's request and set her down against the roof. I could see stars floating around her head.

"Don't…. go…. so…. fast…." She mumbled. I let her rest for a few minutes before she started yelling. "Next time, don't try to kill me! What was all that for!?"

"Lilika, your father has about an 80% chance of dying within the next hour." She stopped and paled. "W-What?"

"That thin man we saw go down the street, he… he is what I call the worst of the worst in hell." I rubbed my mouth. Should I tell her? I can't. She won't…

"What do you mean?" Lilika asked. Her chestnut hair swung in the breeze. "He killed my friends, made me fight against people from my village and he… he…" I can't say it. No. Not now. "He's done some bad things, okay? And his brother… well ask Raphtalia about that." I shuddered at the memory. Naofumi said cruel and unusual punishment was illegal in his world? That'd be nice here. I would have had to watch him _torture my own si-_

"I… don't know what to say." Lilika looked down. She hasn't really been exposed to loss and death before. I guess maybe being separated from me counts, but…

"We need to go now. Fancy a flying trick?" I could see the question mark appear above Lilika's head. I slung her over my shoulder again and let out my two daggers.

"Kantan, Katai! Double time it to the castle!" I placed my feet on the both of them and we raised about a foot into the air. "Hold on, Lilika!"

"W-Wait! Wha-" Her voice was cut off by the whoosh of air. We shot out of the alleyway into a conveniently empty street. The shops blurred as we flew past. "Faster, you two!"

"Yes, Master!" Kantan said. Katai made a grunt of acknowledgement. I used my mana to boost the speed of the two. Our height got lower as I bent my knees. We were now on the main street. The carriage holding the two slave abusers were in front of us. "Lilika, hope you aren't motion sick!" We sped forwards through the parted crowd. They stared as we flew past. A fat guy stepped off the carriage and looked behind himself.

"What in god's name is-" He didn't finish as I jumped. Me and Lilika flew over the carriage. It then turned to splinters. I skidded to a stop on the street as my daggers returned to their sheaths. I heard something from Kantan, but couldn't make it out from all the other noise. "Good work you two."

The only remaining trace of the carriage was the two horses (which somehow escaped unscathed) a few very battered artifacts and a single wooden wheel missing all but one of its spokes. Fat man made a few unintelligible noises.

"You've grown, Ariete." I whipped my head around.

"So have you, _Master," _I said. I set the dazed Lilika on the ground. This is between me and him. "I assume you're here to rejoin our cause?" He said. He set his hand on his whip.

"Hah, like I'd ever do that. I escaped for a reason. Excuse my language, but there's no way I'm going back to that hellhole." He frowned.

"Ah, that's too bad. We could have made great partners. Fellas, c'mon up here." He snapped his fingers. Ten slaves holding various weapons filed out from behind him. They had the same dead, lifeless expression I had when I decided to escape. I readied my stance.

"To quote a certain shield user, _come at me, Bitch."_

* * *

Raphtalia, wake up!" I yell-whispered. Tonight was the night. She should've stayed up. I shook her. "Fue?" She shot up. "Careful! It's me." She looked around then locked eyes with me. She had a question mark come out of her mouth, but then her face twisted in fear. "W-What are you doing here! We could be killed for-" I slapped my head over her mouth. "Stop yelling! Do you want them to find us?! We need to go now. No questions."

She nodded. I held her hand and we sneaked into the hallway. It was dark. I could hear the nighttime gladiators fighting above. Torches on the walls lit the dim hall. We crept along the wall.

"Ariete, are you sure about this?" Raphtalia asked. Her hand was shaking in mine. I looked back. Her entire body was trembling like it was exposed to winter air. Her hand was trying to crush mine.

"We'll be fine as soon as we get out of here," I said. We made it further along the hall to a set of doors. I inched them open and took a peek.

"We can monopolize by using both of them. The first is strong enough to win practically every fight, and they're twins. They both should be capable, right?" I ducked my head back and closed the door as quickly and quietly as possible. "Raphtalia, we need to go. _Now._" She nodded and we continued to sneak down the hall.

I heard a door open. I ducked behind a pillar and pulled Raphtalia with me. "It has been a nice night, brother. I'll see you tomorrow. Bring the girl over to my side of the place." The light around me became brighter as my eyes widened. Not Raphtalia. She can't handle it. No.

I heard footsteps approaching us. If we ran, Raphtalia wouldn't keep up with her malnourished muscles. I could carry her, but we would be too slow and be caught by him. Hiding here isn't gonna work either. Unless…

"Raphtalia, take this." I ripped a piece of my ragged shirt off and told her to put it over her nose and mouth. I stepped out of the pillar.

"Ah, what are you doing out so late, my darling warrior?" He asked. His eyes had a red glint to them. "Being out past bedtime calls for punishment." He slid his whip from his hip. I pulled a bottle out of my shirt. It hung on my neck with a little string.

"This is goodbye, _Master."_ I poured the water down my shirt. It soaked through the rags and touched my crest. I winced as it dissolved into the air. A bit painful. I started chanting. He slung his whip out. I ducked and the leather passed over me. It slashed against the pillar Raphtalia was near and cut it. The pillar slid to the floor and the balcony it held up groaned. Raphtalia yelped as the pillar broke into pieces.

"Ah, is Zervite's toy here? Good! Let's have a versus match, shall we? " He snapped his fingers and a fat man came through the same door he did.

"Oh, the demi-human twins are both here? Do they need a good old beating?" The fat man wore a sadistically goofy smile. My chant finished. "Dreifach Hellfire!" Rather than a ball, a hose of flames appeared in my hands. I twisted the end and rather than water, flames came out of the end. I ignited the carpet and the wooden ceiling. The two sadists shouted something. I sensed something coming for me. I rolled to the side and kept my hose aimed towards the two. The room began to fill with smoke and flames. The spell ended, leaving me drained and the hose vanishing. A barrier of flaming pieces separated me and Raphtalia from the other two. I took her hand and started to run. We burst out of the front door and ran into the forest. I looked back only once to see the palace completely up in flames. For the first time since I was enslaved, I smiled.

* * *

The first slave to charge me was a young boy. He had a spear in his hands. I dodged his thrust and cut the wood right where his hand ended. He was left with a dowel in his hands. I kicked him back. The next two were another boy and a girl. Both had daggers. The first slashed downwards. I shifted to the side and watched the blade pass harmlessly in front of me. I kicked the boy in the behind and he collapsed onto the ground. The other girl shouted. "Don't touch HIM!" She threw her dagger at me. It was misaimed and hit the ground to my left. She charged me. I jumped, but she caught my foot. "Raaaagh!"

She twisted and I went spinning in the air. I hit the ground with an 'oof' sound. She picked her dagger back up and charged. I sent Kantan out. I knocked the dagger back out of her hands using Kantan. Experiment time. "Katai! Release!" I threw him out. He shined mid-air and then slid onto the ground as a tanned boy dressed in blue clothes. I didn't get to study their clothing or looks before. He had a blue tunic on top and a skirt-like leather armorpiece running down his legs. His arms were covered in orange bandages. His sword also had an orange hilt.

My mana had drained only halfway. "Katai, I order you to disable, not kill the attacking slaves." He nods briefly. "They're not the problem. _He is._" I said. I escaped you 2 years ago. I may have still ended up a slave again, but not yours. "It is time, for the student to best the _Master,_" I recalled Kantan as Katai held off the rest of the slaves.

The thin man laughed. "You've declared independence, so I shall tell you my name. I am Zekrial. Call me Zek. You've done well, Ariete. It's a shame your life will be ending soon." He slid a whip off his belt with his left hand and a shortsword with his right. "So, surrender now and I'll take your head off quickly. Otherwise, a whipping is due for disrespect."

"You said your name was Zek, Right? Well, I'll be sure to make you wish you were never born with that name." He laughed and cracked his whip.

He was the first to move, sweeping out with his whip. I ducked. I looked at the whip as it passed over me. Leather, right? Kantan's sharp blade should be able to cut it. I moved in closer. He spun around and pulled the whip back. This time, I jumped and held my knife downwards. The whip should be severed after this. I waited. And waited again. The whip made contact with the dagger. Nothing.

Then, sparks exploded. My ears rang as the loud crack reached them.

"Dragon Leather. One of the finest and most painful of whip types. Made from the skin of a dragon slain by the Sword Hero himself. Enchanted to drain the mana of my enemies." He said. He spread his arms out mockingly. I checked my mana. Still okay, but lower than before.

"Now, Ariete. Punishment time!" He cackled and raised his whip. It came down and I stepped aside. I blocked stones from the street from flying into my face. I rushed in and thrust, but he parried with his shortsword. He tried to shove me back, but I dashed out of the range of his arm. I crouched and went for his legs. He stepped aside. I dodged his sword and his following whip. Katai seemed to have finished dealing with the children and was coming towards the fight.

"Katai, do NOT get involved! This is personal!" I went back in and stabbed. He dodged again and brought his sword up. I dashed backwards as it slammed onto the ground. He was overextended. I took the opportunity to go at his arm.

My dagger head closer to his skin. Closer… Closer… Milliseconds away from sweet, sweet revenge. Just need to make those few extra centimetres…

Wait, why is it getting farther away? Why's there red on my side? Why am I on the ground? What!?

"Sorry, Ariete. Seems you have a lot to learn from Master. Too bad you won't be alive to be taught."

I watched as his sword plunged for my heart.

**A/N: Hoo, boy this was a good one. Lots of action, backstory and badass Ariete.**

**This SP chapter has three parts. Past, Present and Future. Mostly so I could have cool names for the chapters. This does mark the beginning of the climax of the story. I don't know how the pope fight will go, but oh well.**

**Azentra: I did skip over a small talk bit between the end of Chapter 21 and the beginning of chapter 22. It wasn't very important, so it's been cut.**

**Next time, Present. Including Badass Ariete and Badass Raphtalia and Badass Filo...**


	26. Special Chapter 24: Present

**A/N: Welcome back! I'm going to take this quick A/N to tell you about a little known discord server. It is a Myne appreciation server for Myne enthusiasts. THose who love our God and saviour, Myne should join. The code's gHX46ds.**

**April Fools! Just kidding. Well until the end of April the First the server is in Myne mode. The server is real, so go check it out. Sneak peeks of chapters and me complaining about life. My username is the same as always.**

**Just a little warning for this chapter. It gets quite dark. Namely, tying someone's hands together by threading the rope in the holes you carved in their hands. Don't proceed if you're not really comfortable with that.**

**Enjoy this chapter!**

Huh. The sword isn't in my chest. It's actually being raised? Now it's in a building?

"What?" I looked up. A stone hand had come out of the ground next to me. Lilika's arms were outstretched and she was breathing heavily.

"Looked like you needed some help there, friend." We grinned at each other. I pushed myself up and wiped my mouth. I ignored the pain in my side.

"Ready for round two?" I said. I smiled as his face twisted.

"Die!" He brought his whip around again. I jumped and used Lilika's stone fist as a stepping stone. I made an arc with my blade, but he dodged. I dashed into his open side and thrust, but he dodged again.

"Gaah!" He twisted his whip around and started spinning it like a top. I jumped back out of range of the black whip. I walked over to Lilika who was watching him spin around like a madman. He didn't seem to notice I had left the circle. 

"That's the one you were talking about?" I nodded.

"Zek. I burned down that guy's child fighting coliseum. He may or may not be a little angry at me for that. I did nearly kill him." Lilika looked between me, the crazy whip spinning guy, and Katai. She then started laughing. "Huh?"

"I can't tell which one of you is the villain, Ariete." She giggled further. I rolled my eyes but let a smile come forth. Katai watched from beside us.

"Is that pitiful man the one who had you suffer, Master?" Lilika raised an eyebrow. I ignored her. "Yes, Katai. Now, let's see." I held my hand up like I was checking a watch. "Alright, it's about time."

"Katai, Return to your original form." The boy nodded and glowed. The glow disappeared and Katai clattered onto the ground. I picked him up. "Showtime, Zek."

At the mention of his name, my former master looked towards me and grunted. He stopped spinning his whip. I stepped towards him. He started running at me. "Take this!" He let go of his whip and drew a knife. Bad move. I jumped over his clumsy thrust and landed my foot on his shoulder. Using gravity, I tilted back and drew my foot off his shoulder. I then gave it a light whack with my foot. He sprawled onto the ground and I landed silently. I used Kantan and Katai to hold down his hands.

"Gyahhh!" He yelled as his hands were nailed to the ground by my daggers. I looked back. The crowds had already mostly dispersed for safety, and the guards were standing back. Fatty was pale and spluttering.

"What is going on here?" Lilika's father approached. Two small red puddles had gathered around Zek's hands. I should come up with a name for him, but I couldn't grab one.

"Father!" Lilika rushed to her dad. Naofumi and Raphtalia followed behind him. Naofumi was scowling and Raphtalia looked worried.

"Ariete, what did you _do?_" I smiled innocently and whistled. I lifted Kantan and Katai and then rotated them 90 degrees. I then stabbed them back down again.

"UrghhhhH!" I laughed as he let out a cry of pain. "Don't worry," I kicked him in the head. "It's justified." I stomped on his chest. "Ask Raphtalia." Another kick. "They deserve punishment." I picked up the knife he tried to stab me with and planted it into his foot.

Naofumi looked at Raphtalia, who was looking at me blankly. Naofumi then looked back at me.

"It's fine. He deserves torture. This soul here is too evil to simply burn in hell. No. He will suffer for us. Ain't that right, Raphtalia?" I grinned at her. This is it. My final chance for revenge. Naofumi can heal him to keep him alive, and I can just make him suffer, every night until 2 years have passed. The same as he's done to me, right? Eye for an Eye, as they say.

"Raphtalia, come here and help me tie this guy up." I pulled out my daggers and returned them to their sheaths. I also pulled the knife out of his foot. Blood spilt onto the pavement. I kicked him over and reached for his whip. "This works as rope." I began to wrap him in his own whip. He groaned as I laced his hands together by tying a knot inside the new slits in his hands. Raphtalia looked in horror, Naofumi nodding in approval, and Lilika wincing as I tightened the bindings.

"Hey, you. Fatty. Come here." I gestured towards the fat guy. He looked at his defeated brother and then knelt down and placed his head to the ground. "I-I beg that you do not take my life! Please!" He held his hands up in a prayer-like position. I laughed. I walked up to him. The soldiers surrounding him, I suppose his guards, stood in front of him and readied their swords.

"We'll never let a filthy demi-human stain our lord! Not even if he begs for it!"

I laughed again. "So sure of yourself, eh?" I used Kantan and Katai to tip off the helmets of every soldier. I then made sure each of them was shaved clean. Two started bleeding from the scalp and shouted. I disarmed the rest by knocking their blades out of loose hands. "Oopsie, the razor hit your skin. Oh well. Collateral damage." I pushed the guards away with a shove.

"She's just a little girl! How can she have-" I silenced him by shoving Kantan down his throat, blade first. He screamed. Good. The blade seemed to cut his throat. I pulled it back. Kantan was stained with blood, spit, and mucus. Hah. The same mucus I coughed up in that cage one day. I chuckled at the irony. I moved forwards. The man was trembling in fear. "You know what, I'll let my sister do the work." I waved. "Raphtalia, come here."

My sister stayed glued to her spot. "Come here, _Raphtalia. _Avenge Rifina. Kiel. Everyone he… he _fucking tortured. _Make him pay for that hellhole he put us in. Do it." Raphtalia placed her hand on her sword and drew it. She held it with wobbly hands and walked towards me. "Come, on Raphtalia. Make him _pay._" I closed my eyes and waited. I hear the blade sink into his flesh with a satisfying grate. Probably the bones. Wait, where's his scream of pain, or something?

I opened my eyes. Raphtalia had her hands sitting on the pommel of her sword. It was sunk into the ground, right between the stones. "I-I can't." She said.

"Why? Why not!? They made us SUFFER!" I yelled at her. She whipped her head to face me. "If we do this, we're no better than them."

"What difference does it make!? They killed our friends. They made us suffer. THEY MADE ME KILL HER!" I screamed.

Raphtalia looked at me. Everyone watching did. Did… Did I say that… No.. wait! 

"What? What!?" Raphtalia looked down at the ground then back at me. "What do you mean you killed her? Are you talking about Rifina? No… NO!"

Her knuckles went white on her sword. She sank to the ground on her knees. Her sword dropped to the side. My knees threatened to buckle as well. "I-I had no choice… she… she was going to kill me… and then…" I started to mumble.

I looked down. It is my fault, isn't it? RIght? I heard that rattling noise again. I looked up. Fatty had a sword in his hands and a crazed expression on his face.

"Die, you Filth!" He raised the sword and it started sliding downwards towards Raphtalia. No…, not her!

I jumped to the left with as much force as I could. I felt something cold go across my stomach. I landed on the ground with all but my sanity and stomach intact. I felt my stomach. Warm. I lifted my hand. Red.

"D-Damn you!" I tried to push myself off the ground. I couldn't. I checked my mana. Almost full… It should be fine, right?

"Kantan…. Katai… Release!" I croaked out. The two daggers slid out of their sheaths and glowed.

My body lacked any feeling below the neck. I guess that's a good thing since my side and stomach are cut through. Kantan knelt beside me and started using scraps of my cloak to bandage me. Katai stood by the still kneeling Raphtalia. Come on, sis, you can do it.

"Katai, you better not let Raphtalia cry over me," I ordered. He nodded. He kept his body facing towards Fatty. Fatty charged with a thrust. Katai parried and slashed. Fatty somehow dodged. Kantan finished tying up my wounds and rushed in to help with his axe. He chopped down but missed Fatty's hand. He fell forwards. Fatty kicked him. Kantan flew backwards, hitting his brother square in the chest. Dummy. They both went skidding away.

"Now, finally! An execution!" Fatty cackled and raised his sword. Raphtalia remained motionless. "NO!" I yelled.

The blade came closer and closer to her.

It made a clank against Naofumi's shield. "Naofumi! You're late!" I yelled. He nodded at me. He then looked at Raphtalia. "You are my sword Raphtalia, but a person can't protect himself with sword alone. I am your shield. So, come on. Stand and be my sword again."

I stared at the awfully out of character Naofumi. When did he get so charismatic? He took Raphtalia's hand and helped her stand up. Fatty moved his blade off Naofumi's shield.

"Now come on, see what happens when you see what I can do." Naofumi's shield changed.

Curse Shield, Wrath.

**A/N: Ah, this chapter was more grim/dark than It was supposed to be. Naofumi is very OOC at that end part, but oh well. I realise there are still 6-8 more chapters to go… and the climax is here. Huh. May need working on.**

**Azentra: Yeah. Big deviation. My headcanon is that she got thrown around for a year, then 2 years fighting with Zek and then about 3 or four weeks free before she got caught and enslaved again. I do think that her level definitely was not 1 when Naofumi bought her. I'd say she might've been level 4-8 when he got her. The 2 years part was her training independently from the levelling. I don't know if this is true in canon, but it seems that fighting against another player will not give experience. Naofumi never mentions gaining experience when he duels anyone, so that is my assumption.**

**By the way, I am thinking of re-writing some of the earlier chapters. More or less to correct errors and flesh out parts that I retconned in.**

**Omake Time!**

Omake 8: Regression Part 3

"Oh dear, I think they must've consumed the Aetete Mushroom." The old woman rushed to a shelf and grabbed a book. Naofumi kept the two little girls close to him. Raphtalia was sucking on her thumb. Ariete was squeezing his arm. For a young girl, she does sure have a ton of strength.

"Here we are, Aetete Mushroom." The old woman spun the book around. Naofumi took a glace at the magic shop and then looked at the book. A de-ageing mushroom whose effects last 4 days. Naofumi sighed. "4 days!? One had me already pulling out my hair!"

Naofumi exited the magic shop and began to bang his head on the wall repeatedly. Ariete watched in mild amusement and then went back to babbling about something.

**Next Time, The Future.**


	27. Special Chapter 25: Future

**A/N: It's been a wild ride here. This'll be the last chapter of this fic (aside from the epilogue) because I don't want to drag on the fic to include the pope battle. It'd be adding it for the sake of adding it. It's no biggie to diverge even further from the plot, eh?**

**25 chapters, 2 interludes. 60k words. Thanks, y'all. Info on the sequels later.**

**Enjoy!**

"Self Curse Burning!" Naofumi yelled. His shield's flames extended like tendrils. The red I saw in my left eye returned in my right.

"GYAA!" Fatty recoiled his hand. Burns littered it. His sword was blackened. So was his skin. I tried to move my arm but it wouldn't respond. Raphtalia stood behind Naofumi with wobbly legs.

"R-Raphtalia…" I croaked out. She slowly turned her head towards me. Her eyes widened when they met my single one. "Ariete!" She dives towards me and starts fiddling with a pouch on her belt. The button comes loose. A red crystal slips out of the pouch. Aren't those the…

"Wait, no! Those were expe-" I got cut off by Raphtalia saying a spell quietly and then crushing the crystal. It shattered and the particles fell on top of me. They began to glow red and the wounds in my side and stomach started to regenerate.

"Reinforcements!" I heard a villager yell. Demi-humans began to flood into the street and Knights flooded in from the other direction. "Kill the infidels! Cleanse this Earth!" I heard a knight commander shout. Naofumi muttered something about an inquisition. My body still lay limp. Raphtalia poured a mana potion into my mouth.

I sat up. "Y'know, those healing crystals we only got one of and it was 15 gold coins."

"So? They're meant for healing." Raphtalia wagged her finger at me. "Don't get injured again. Remember that promise in the forest?" I nodded and smiled. Ah, the good old times.

"Come on, let's go," Raphtalia said. I stood up, but then a pain hit me. I brought my hands to my left eye. "Owww!" I held it. It was burning. Is this the Curse Shield? Naofumi was still clashing with Fatty. I stood up. Kantan and Katai popped in occasionally to deliver a few strikes.

"Soldiers! Defend your lord!" Fatty moved backwards and let four of his soldiers come forwards. I realised I was weaponless. I looked back. Lilika and her father were a safe distance away. Alright then. I began chanting.

As I chanted, Naofumi burned through 6 more knights. Archers fired. He took the shots with his shield but the fire tendrils didn't fire back.

"He's weak to ranged attacks! Knights, pull back!" Fatty directed. The knights standing around Naofumi drew back and archers began to focus fire on Naofumi.

"Naofumi! Everyone! Get back!" Kantan and Katai obeyed immediately, jumping back. Naofumi started to run with his shield facing his back. A few arrows got through his defence and bounced off his back. Raphtalia retreated behind me. "Ars Zweite Darkflame!" A ball of flame appeared in my hand. Instead of the usual reddish-gold colour, it was a dark purple. I willed for it to spray out. The spell split into small drops of dark purple flame. It went into the sky then came down like rain. Knights began to paw at their heads. Then darkness enveloped their eyes. "Kantan, Katai, grab ropes from somewhere and tie every single one of them up." They both nodded and leapt somewhere.

"Ariete, uh…" Raphtalia was pointing somewhere. Fatty was standing at the top of a pedestal. I watched his mouth twitch in horror. 'A-Ah… the Shield Demon…"

"Raphtalia, you wanna deal with him, or shall I?" I said. Raphtalia didn't say anything. "I'll take that as a no." I started walking forwards.

"Wait, Ariete! No!" Raphtalia called out.

I looked back at her. "What? It's only a little bit of torture. Do it yourself if ya like."

"The torture part is the problem!" I shrugged while Raphtalia glared at me.

"Faust Hole!" I whipped around. A purple circle glowed around the wooden platform Faty was on. The ground beneath the wood disappeared and he fell into the hole screaming.

"Lilika!" I faced my friend. She was looking at me. "Your sister is right, you know. Torture isn't something the good guys do."

"But I'm not a good guy!" I protested. Both Lilika and Raphtalia shook their heads.

"Looks like you've been Shanghaied, Ariete." Naofumi looked at me with an amused smile.

"What does that mean?! I feel like I should be offended." I pouted.

"Don't worry about it." Naofumi looked back towards Zek. "Now, what about him?" I walked up to him. Katan and Katai were tying knights up. A few still were screaming and pawing their eyes out. Some slashed their allies in their backs blindly.

"So, _Master. _How is it there on the ground?" I heard a half-mumble, half-groan reply. I kick him to face the sky and then pull out the knife in his foot. "Hey, Naofumi. Cast healing magic quickly. Make sure it lasts." Naofumi looked at me with confusion and nodded. He chanted and the wounds on Zek's body started to close. I opened a new one in the centre of his chest. He screamed as the magic closed the wound, then the knife sank back in to open it again. Raphtalia glared at me with disapproval. Lilika surprisingly just sighed and turned away. Naofumi laughed over the groans of pain.

"Hey, you taught me well, Naofumi," I said. Naofumi laughed harder.

"... don't make Naofumi-sama sound like a evil person, Ariete."

I looked at my sister. She was still looking at me with disapproval. I sighed. "Fine, lil sis." Raphtalia was going to protest but I pulled out the knife from Zek's body. His wound fully closed and the magic ended. He laid panting on the ground. I noticed the cable I used to tie him up with was still embedded into his hands. Ouch.

"Ariete. You, passing up an opportunity to cause pain? Unbelievable!" I laughed at Raphtalia's comment.

"Hey, where's Filo?" I asked.

"Oh, she stayed with Melty in the castle. They should be here any-"

"Onee-saaaaan!" Yells came from down the street. I looked to see Filo plowing through tied up knights. She skidded to a stop, transformed and then hugged me. "Ahhh! You were fighting without me!" She started landing weak punches on my arms. Thankfully, her power glove wasn't on. Melty was sitting dazed on the ground.

A loud, echoing shout met my ears. "Huh?" I looked down Lilika's hole. It was deep, maybe 15 or 20 feet. Fatty was screaming and yelling. Dirt was coming in from the sides, burying his fat legs. I laughed and then looked around. "Let's see here…"

"Ariete, you have a scary face on…" I shushed Filo.

"You're planning something, aren't you?" Naofumi said. I nodded. I looked around. There has to be a food stall around here somewhere. Ah, there!

I went up to the fried fish stall. I rolled the barrel of oil to the edge of the hole. "Hope ya can hold your breath!" I yelled down the hole. Fatty and everyone else seemed to have my idea click into place.

"Wait, Ariete! No!" I laughed and started pouring. I stopped when the oil made it to Fatty's chin. He had his neck bent upwards.

"You bitch!" He yelled. I laughed. I walked over to his brother and picked them up.

"Huh? Wha?" He looked around in confusion. I threw his body into the pit. I head a sickening crunch then a splash. I looked down. Fatty was down for the count and his head leaned to the side, blood coming from his nose. Zek must've gone unconscious on the way down. "Faust Flame." I ignited a small flame in my hand.

The villagers cheered. "Burn him!"

"Throw the knights in too!"

"Kill them!"

They seemed as eager as me. I lowered my finger.

"Wait, Ariete! No!" I looked towards Raphtalia. She had a genuine look of fear on her face. Lilika also stood by her with the same expression.

"_Don't do it, Ariete."_

"W-What!?" I looked around wildly.

"_I'm not actually here, Ariete. A birdie told me you needed help making a decision"_

"Rifina-chan? How are you talking to me?"

"_Old birdie, young body. Something like that. Anyways, Don't do it. You'll regret it."_

What? How could I regret this? "This is revenge, Rifina. Revenge for your life."

"_If you do this, you'll become a murderer."_

"I already am, aren't I?" I brought my finger to ignite the oil. It was a small trail leading from the barrel to the pit. The flame started spreading along the oil.

"_It's different. You didn't want to kill me, you were forced to. This, you're doing this yourself. This is your decision to kill them."_

Is it different? I considered her words.

"_End it, Ariete."_

I looked at the travelling flame and made a decision. I stomped the travelling flame out. There was a warm sensation under my shoe, then it went cold. A tear dripped out of my right eye.

"That's for you, RIfina."

I looked up. Raphtalia was standing there, shocked. Lilika was smiling. FIlo was eyeing some raw fish. Naofumi was frowning but nodded. The villagers had gone silent.

"It's over. Let's go." I said. I walked away from the edge of the pit.

**A/N: Whoo. A shot one, but an Important one. This chapter marks the end of Book one. Well, except the epilogue with Fitoria. That's Saturday's final update.**

**It has been a journey, my dudes. A Long one. But it ends as all things do. **

**Azentra: I was talking about the little speech I had him do. **

**Redfury509: Yup.**

**Come back next time for a final moment, Fitoria and the last Omake.**


	28. Alert: Rewrite

**Hey! I'm not dead! Woo!**

**The twinning rewrite is up on my profile!**

**Also SGDS news: Small hiatus while i work on the rewrite. Expect ch.5 by the end of july, but no promises.**


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